Because Fate Said So
by OneHorseShay
Summary: A 'What If' tangent after the earthquake in André's Horrible Girl from my story 'We Love Each Other'. What if Fate wanted to take a more hands on approach with Jade to set things back the way she thought they should be? Pairings: Jade/Freddie (Jeddie/Fade), Tori/Beck (Bori) and pairings of secondary/tertiary characters.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Hello my dear readers to another one of my stories. I haven't done a Nano in a while due to my other writing and real life obligations and I know they don't count as fan fiction, but I wanted to write one, so this story is it. I also wanted to have a little fun and cut lose on some of my writing. I want to try a few things and take some risks in my writing without having to worry about a story going off the rails for trying some things. It will include references to other works of fiction (including the possibility of other Nick shows) and out there interpretations of characters and surprises about them, so you have been warned that there might be eye rolling events during the course of the story. I'm experimenting with a writing technique that I've actually loathed for years: "Hey, wouldn't that be cool to try?" Let's see how it goes.

Whether this story is actually part of my Jade/Freddie series or not or any element of the story having any bearing or future bearing on the series, I'm leaving that up to you as the reader to decide. I'm going to remain neutral on the whole affair. It goes without saying that one should be familiar with my series of stories for a number of things to make sense for this story.

This is also my first M rated fan fiction, so let's see how this goes too (in all honesty some of my other stories probably should have been rated M on adult content and violence using 's rating scale).

One last thing, I recently found out that one of my readers is no longer with us. We exchanged a few words during some of my Creddie stories, but I'm sorry to say that I really didn't get to know him as I have some of my readers and fellow writers. May he be at peace.

So this story is dedicated to him, A Writer's Right to Write.

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Because Fate Said So  
By OneHorseShay

Disclaimer: Don't Own, Don't Sue. For God sakes, don't sue.

Rating: M Warnings: Language, Offensive Language (including trigger words), Adult Sexual Content, Adult Subject Matter, Depictions of Drug Use, and Possible Violence

Pairings: Jade West/Freddie Benson (Jeddie), Tori/Beck (Bori) and pairings of secondary/tertiary characters

Summary: A 'What If?' tangent after the earthquake in André's Horrible Girl from my story 'We Love Each Other'. What if Fate wanted to take a more hands on approach with Jade to set things back the way she thought they should be?

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Chapter 1: I'm not in Kansas

Freddie Benson's Room  
West Residence  
Los Angeles, CA  
1:12 AM, Sunday, January 29, 2012

About an hour later after Jade had changed (and wore one of his old Penny-Tees) and ate a small meal while telling him and her mother about what had happened while with Cat, the couple lay in his bed with him slightly propped up with the Galaxy Wars pillow case covered pillow. The flat screen television sitting on the short dresser drawers was displaying late night horror movie. He didn't care for it at the moment, but Jade was enjoying it for the most part, well as much as she had paid attention to it as she was curled up on his left side and rested her head on his left shoulder and letting the lullaby of his heartbeat lull her to sleep.

Jade took in a slow breath as she ran her hands across the covers and started blinking as she realized that was all she felt. She lifted her head off the pillow and pushed up to realize she was lying on top of a made bed. She put on a perplexed expression as she sat up and brushed some of her hair out of her face and behind her left ear to see that the bed was made up with a conservative light blue comforter.

She turned her attention to slowly looked around and saw that other than the short dresser where the television rested and the dresser draw by the window on the left side of the room from the entrance, was mostly bare and missing everything that made it Freddie's room.

Her jaw slightly slacked allowing her lips to slightly part as she felt a sharp sinking feeling in her stomach at the familiar yet unfamiliar surroundings. She instinctively whispered out when she realized that she was alone, "Freddie? Freddie?"

She cautiously scooted off the bed then headed for the door. She stopped just passed the threshold and looked down the hallway. She didn't see anyone or heard any sound. She wouldn't admit to anyone, but she was… _concerned_ at the moment while taking several slow breaths. She slowly started making her way down the hall while cautiously looking around as if her baser instincts were expecting something to jump out of the L shaped hallway with her socks covered feet dampening the sound of her foot steps. She stopped in front of the door to her room.

She cautiously reached for the door handle then slowly turned the knob. The doorknob internal mechanisms clicked and she pushed opened the door. Her mouth fell open when she saw that almost all of her possessions were gone with only her bed remaining. Her burgundy chair was gone with all her specimens were gone off the shelves and paintings and pictures were off the walls. Her flat screen TV and PearBox were also missing.

She cautiously stepped back out of her room then turned her head to look down the hall towards the top of the stairs. She quickly made her way down the rest of the hallway and down the stairs. Once she reached the bottom step that exited into the kitchen, she stopped and glanced around. Seeing quickly that the kitchen had not changed, she turned to head into the living room. She slowly cut through it and saw that the TV remained standing at the opposite wall with the back of the couch towards the kitchen. The other pieces of furniture of a recliner and other chair remained in place with the various pictures in place.

The pale singer continued out of the living room to the short hallway that separated the end of the living room from the sitting room (the room that Jade caught Sinjin in on the video of chat almost a year ago) and headed for the first floor bedrooms, specifically the master bedroom.

She stopped at the ajar door, but didn't hear anything inside. She reached out with her left hand and pushed open the door then stepped inside.

She sucked in a sharp breath at finding her mother was sprawled out on her bed face down. Her mother had changed into her usual casual nightwear, but looked more passed out than asleep. The dark brunette cautiously reached out with her hand and rested it on her back and felt that her mother was still breathing.

The actress glanced around and saw on the nightstand a half empty wine glass and an empty wine bottle. She frowned in confusion at the idea that her mother had apparently drank herself to the point of passing out. She was only aware of her mother being a social drinker during the big wheel meetings with executives at the advertising agency and the very rare occasion at home.

She shook her head as the fear turned into a feeling confusion at the sheer strangeness of everything. As she shook her head in disbelief, she glanced over at the nightstand where her television rested and saw that her mother's laptop remained open sitting beside it.

She quickly walked over to the PearBook then closed it and walked out of the room. She went back to the living room and plotted herself on the couch and opened the PearBook on the coffee table.

She tapped a button to bring the computer out of sleep with the hopes that it had enough charge left to do what she wanted. Once it finished waking up, she blinked and swallowed as she saw the date in the bottom right corner: Sunday, January 29, _2017_. She clicked on it to double check the time then clicked a button to re-synch the clock with the internet time. The next moment it displayed the time as 10:37 AM, Sunday, January 29, 2017.

She swallowed down her apprehensiveness then pulled up a browser window. It took her a few moments to navigate an unfamiliar new browser, but she pulled up several news websites and started reading off several headlines: President Shay talking about his goals for his first term as president, NASA refusing to confirm whether they had received signals from extra-terrestrials, Justin Beiber was somehow determined to have American citizenship and jokes about running for US President someday. However, as strange as those headlines were, the one that caught her eye was an entertainment headline: _Jade West's World Tour Concludes in Los Angeles at the Boomerang Theater on Tuesday_.

The teenager quickly clicked on the headline and her mouth dropped open as she saw a picture of herself. However, the picture she saw was incomprehensible for her for a moment: Her hair was straight and chopped off to shoulder length and a lighter shade of brunette, not as light as her natural hair color, but lighter than her dark brunette coloring with the blonde extensions she use to wear almost a year ago. Her nose stud was replaced with a nose ring and she was missing her left eyebrow ring, but was wearing a cross as a right earring and a small silver skull pendant on a black choker.

The scoop neckline of her black tank top shirt under her very short denim blue jacket allowed Jade to see an intricate skull tattooed on the other girl's upper left breast over her heart, two barbwire tattoos around her left arm just above her elbow and a tattoo of what appeared to be a dragon with bat like wings wrapping around her upper right arm just below her shoulder.

She blinked several times as she studied the picture, but she couldn't believe the image. She wasn't sure how long she stared at the picture until her eyes finally started to drift to the text of the article and started reading about how she—the other Jade—had played sold out concerts across Europe and the United States over the course of the last year.

She continued to read further to a comment from Mason Thornesmith, which the article stated was Jade's music executive, _'We are absolutely thrilled that Jade is wrapping her World Tour at the place that started her music career nearly five years ago and it should the capstone to the thrilling ride of the last year.'_

Jade took several shallow breaths and took a moment as she couldn't believe what she read; she apparently was famous—really famous and a successful musician.

Without thinking, she typed in her name into a search bar and the search engine immediately brought millions of hits, but decided to click on more legitimate news articles to find out more about herself and hopefully not just gossip. She didn't know how long she read article after article about 'her' rise to fame. However, as the pale teenager continued reading, the stark lack of any mention of Freddie stood out and brought an uneasy feeling in her stomach until was able to go back far enough to find two separate articles about when she got her big break and one mentioning her relationship with Freddie: a performance at the Platinum Music Awards in early April of 2012 after being selected to play after an audition submission for a fresh talent in the hopes, as Mason put it, for that person 'to become an overnight sensation'. Apparently she did become such an overnight sensation that Mason was hoping she'd reach that she dropped out of Hollywood Arts and finished her schooling with private teachers so she could get started on her first album which apparently did go platinum.

She wasn't exactly pleased about the idea of leaving Hollywood Arts even if she did wrap up her schooling to get her diploma with private teachers and becoming famous. She didn't dwell on that fact as she read the second article about how she and Freddie apparently broken up sometime around the Platinum Music Awards. She took a sharp breath and she felt her chest tighten as she read that bit of news. She continued reading hoping that it would explain why, but it provided nothing more specific other than wild rumors about her thinking he was holding her back or that she had caught him cheating on her with his first love Carly Shay (she rolled her eyes at reading that part) or that he had caught her cheating with Beck and dumped her.

She decided to type in Freddie's name for a search and it brought up millions of hits, not as many as her hits, but still a significant number. Most of them were older links about his days with iCarly or his time at Hollywood Arts; however she did find a more recent news article listed near the top. It was about how Freddie had recently graduated from MIT and was working full-time at Pear Incorporate to continue his work on the next generation of three-D cameras. It didn't say whether he was seeing anyone, but did mention the fact that he use to date the famous musician. Other than that, apparently he had stayed out of the public eye over the last several years.

She closed her eyes and shook her head in wonder at the sheer strangeness of everything so far while speaking to herself, "No, this is crazy. This is just some crazy dream." She opened her eyes and took a deep breath then continued speaking, "Okay Jade, you just fell asleep in bed with Freddie. He's still watching TV, but you're out; time to wake up."

She pinched the top of her left forearm and hissed out in surprise at how it hurt (and not in the good way), "Ow!" She blinked in surprise at the pain and the slight red mark on her pale skin. She glanced around the living room and taking a hitched breath as she realized that she may not be dreaming.

As her mind desperately grasped at what could explain what was going on, a thought jumped to the forefront of her mind: what Freddie described what happened to him on Christmas Eve and apparently happened with Carly years ago. _'Could the same thing be happening?'_ a thought crossed her mind. She looked around cautiously and whispered out at first, "Anna? It's Anna right?" She cleared her throat and tried again with a raised voice, "Anna? Are you, ah… doing something like you did with Freddie with me? Is this some kind of lesson you want to teach me?"

She waited for an answer, but silence remained filled the living room.

She suddenly felt alone with a chill running down her spine. She looked off to the opposite wall without focusing on it and whispered out afraid of whatever response she would receive, "Please Anna? Please Anna answer me."

Her answer was continued silence.

She took a deep breath as she realized that the silence was going to be her answer… an answer she was not going to accept. She slightly frowned and stood up with a sense of purpose. She closed the laptop then quickly headed back up the stairs. She entered her room and dropped the laptop on the bed before she headed for her closet. She hoped that something was left and wasn't disappointed that though she immediately saw that most of her clothes were missing, there were still a number of articles of clothing left with a pair of boots sitting in the floor of the closet.

Jade took a sniff of the clothes and smelled a slight staleness to them as if they had remained in the closet for perhaps the last five years; however, the smell didn't matter at the moment. She grabbed one of her red and black plaid button shirt and a pair of medium shade of blue jeans then headed for her drawers. She opened it to find one of her black athletic tank tops then some undergarments. She dropped them on the bed to air out for at least a minute or so then headed to her bathroom.

She took the time to wash and dry off her face from a still hanging towel then started to search the bathroom hoping to find some toothpaste intended to brush her teeth, but realized that she could still taste the lingering flavor of brushing her teeth before crashing with Freddie. That little tidbit of information made her realize that she hadn't been asleep long before being snatched up.

She headed back to her room then threw on her laid out clothes and leaving her night clothes on the bed. Once she straightened her plaid pattern shirt on her shoulders then the leather jacket around her neck then went back to her closet. She took a moment to search the floor and a soft smile formed on her face when she found her Gears-of-War bag. She pulled it out and started brushing it off quickly as there was dust and filth on it.

The pale actress pulled the strap over her head to wear it over her chest and rest on her right hip. She grabbed the laptop and stuffed the laptop in the empty bag. She turned to head out of the room, but stopped and looked at the Freddie's old Penny-T she threw on the bed. She walked back to the bed and quickly folded the shirt up into a nice square then slid it into her bag behind the laptop.

She turned and headed back downstairs to go back to her mother's room. Once she was back inside the master bedroom, she started searching for a few moments. She found her mother's wallet and grabbed a wad full of cash along with a bank card then picked up her mother's phone sitting on the dresser. She scrolled through the contacts and found the one she was looking for. She stuffed the phone in her right pocket than took another moment to search for the charger to the computer and the phone. She found them after a few moments of searching then wrap it up and stuff it in the front top and bottom pouches of the bag.

The dark brunette turned her attention back to her passed out mother and gave her a sympathetic expression then bent down and kissed her mother on the forehead. The woman that had to be in her early fifties at this point barely stirred. The pale dark brunette turned away to head out of the room.

The brunette finally stopped at the door in the kitchen that led to the garage and looked to the key rack hanging on the right side of the door above the kitchen counter. There were only two sets of keys, one she recognized as belonging to her mother and the other as the ones to Freddie's Charger. She cautiously reached up and plucked the keys to the Charger off the hook and with a bit of trepidation, looked down at them in her palm as if weighing them in her hand to see if they were real. Once satisfied they were real, she stuffed in into her jean pocket.

She stepped through the kitchen exit into the garage and surveyed what she saw. A new Mercedes-Benz was in one of the parking spaces that she assumed belong to her mother, but her car was missing which answered the obvious question as to why her keys were missing off the hook of the key rack. However, at the far end of the garage she saw a vehicle covered in a tarp.

She walked down the steps and walked over to the front of the vehicle then examined the covering for a moment to see there was fine level of dusk over it. She took a deep breath to try to suppress the apprehension she felt at what possible condition she could expect of the vehicle then grabbed the end to give it a hard jerk to her left. The dust on the tarp snapped away from the surface and filled the air with a fine mist for a few moments. She shut her eyes as she frowned and she waved away the dust. The dust cleared enough for her to open her eyes to look at Freddie's Charger. There may have been dust on the tarp, but the classic muscle car looked just as good as when she 'gave' it to him on New Years.

A soft and relieved smile formed on her face at seeing that the vehicle appeared to be in such good condition. She finished taking the tarp off the vehicle then went to the driver's side door. She slid into the driver's seat and pulled the door shut behind her.

She looked over the interior and saw that it was still in fine condition. She pulled the bag strap over her head and dropped her old bag in the passenger seat then turned her attention to starting the vehicle. She dug the keys out of her jean pocket then shoved the key into the ignition to start the car, but whined as the engine refused to crank.

She blew out a breath and tried again, but it refused to start.

"Come on, start damn it," she swore out then turned the ignition one last time, but this time the engine roared, bringing the old muscle car came to life. She glanced at the fuel gage and saw that there was about a quarter of a tank of gas left, but she didn't know how long it had sat in the tank.

She glanced up to see the electronic garage door opener remote was still slid onto the sun visor. She tapped the button and fortunately it still had enough battery power to send a signal for the garage door as it started to slide open. The teenager out of place backed the car out unto the driveway then tapped the button to close the garage door.

She pulled back into the clear street and started on her way. As she made her way down the road, she just hoped she wouldn't be pulled over for expired tags.

Beverly Park  
Los Angeles, CA  
Sunday, January 29, 2017

After stopping by Inside Out Burger for some lunch (they had stopped serving breakfast half an hour earlier, much to her annoyance) and some coffee, she pulled the Charger up to the security gate to the main entrance of the gated community where a number of celebrities lived.

She looked over to the security both and saw several security guards stationed inside from what she could tell from her seat. A middle aged security guard with blonde hair stepped out from the booth and slightly bent down to look at her through the driver's side window to give her a questioning expression.

She flashed him a confident smile as he apparently took a moment to study her in seeing her appearance did not match up with how the current Jade appeared. She was glad that she wore the plaid pattern shirt and leather jacket that covered her arms as not to have to explain where her tattoos had gone.

He asked cautiously, "Miss West? I thought you were home?"

The pale teenager answered in a casual voice, "Nope, I… had to go out this morning…" She glanced at his nametag and then asked, "Hank. I wanted to visit my mother since I've been gone so long."

The security guard smiled and gave her a nod apparently satisfied that she was the older Jade, but she was unsure if he was smiling because she was using his name or thought it was sentimental to visit her mother after an apparent international tour. He glanced over the car and asked with a conversational tone, "New car Miss West?"

Jade's smiled faltered and the security guard looked slightly nervous at possibly upsetting her, but she quickly pushed on with a soft and inviting tone, "It's… an old friend left it to me. I just got the chance to finally pick it up."

Hank blew out a relieved breath and decided not to press his luck with the mistaken musician and motioned over with his head to another security guard in the booth to open the gate.

Jade gave him a polite nod then brought the Charger through the entrance.

She started glancing around for the house number as she slowly drove the Charger through the community. She spared a glance to the other homes in the gated community and tried to suppress the apprehensive expression at seeing the various celebrity homes. She had wondered how it would be like to live at that level of comfort from time to time as an interesting distraction of her goal of making it big and apparently she had made to that level of success.

She noticed one resident walking down the left side of street walking his dog. He threw up a hand and shouted a greeting as she approached, "Jade!"

She smiled politely as she passed and waved out to Sean Combs. She shook her head as she glanced to the review mirror to see that he continued to walk his dog.

A few moments later, she found the house and pulled into the driveway. She killed the ignition (and hoped that it would actually start the next time she tried) then exited the vehicle to take the moment just look at the home. 'Sick place' did not begin to describe how nice the home looked form the outside and guessed that she was a 'bazillionar' like Mister Gibbons. This was the exact type of home that she pictured last night (or five years ago if this wasn't a dream or some weird alternate universe Freddie's angel dropped her in) that she and Freddie would live and raise their children.

She took a breath to set aside that vision for a moment then headed for the front door. The intricately designed wooden double doors were slightly intimidating, but she brushed that aside to tap the doorbell then waited to see if anyone would answer. She shuffled back and forth between her feet as the seconds ticked away then tapped the doorbell again in frustration at having to wait for her older self to answer if Hank was under the impression she was home.

She tapped it several more times and nearly a minute passed by before the door finally opened. Her eyes shot open wide as she looked at the girl wearing a thin white athletic undershirt (without any additional undergarment) and very short grey sleep shorts. Seeing a picture of what she could look like in the future and seeing 'herself' in person were two entirely different things with the clear tattoos, particularly the skull one over her heart that was only partially obscured (and not by much) under the shirt.

The other girl… the older version of herself looked half asleep with one eye closed with a fist trying to wipe the sleep out of the eye and yawning. She shouted out without really focusing on the younger Jade, "Who the Hell is bothering me this early?"

"I'm bothering you!" Jade snapped with an impatient tone.

The shorter haired young woman dropped her hand and opened her eyes to take a look at the girl that had the nerve to snap at her. She paused at seeing the younger Jade for a moment then blinking several times to see if what she was looking at was real.

She slightly frowned then asked with a short and challenging tone, "What in the Hell?"

Jade calmly replied, "Hi."

"Shit, some nutty impersonator." She snorted out and shook her head. "How the Hell did you get past security?"

Jade smirked at her older self as she retorted with a slightly sarcastic tone, "They thought I was you."

"Then I'm going to have that damn fool fired." She shook her head then looked Jade up and down then dismissively commented, "Great, I have another twin? I thought Heather Fox was enough…"

Jade slightly frowned with confusion as the name sound familiar, but she couldn't place exactly where she heard the name before, but ignored to retort, "I'm not your twin. I guess I'm you… five years ago."

She started laughing and the younger Jade immediately frowned at her. "Really? You're _me_? Wow, you're even crazier than I thought dressing up like me. You know, I'll cut you a break because it's so early and I'm tired: you leave now and never bother me again and I won't call the cops to haul your ass away."

"Is it really January twenty eighth… two thousand seventeen?"

The older Jade crossed her arms under her chest and shook her head. "Really, you're asking me what year it is? Fine, yes, it's twenty seventeen you nut now get the Hell out of here."

"Then I am you five years ago to the day… but instead of waking up with Freddie in his room, I wake up in a made bed and mom passed out drunk in her room."

The older girl frowned at the apparent detail she was able to describe.

The teenager continued, "Do you remember the earthquake?"

The musician snorted out dismissively trying to regain the dominance of the conversation, "It's L.A., we have plenty of earthquakes. You need to be specific."

"I'm talking about the one when I was hanging out with Cat when she was dog sitting Mister Gibbon's dog… a week after I found out that Beck had been talking to Carly all long."

Her eyes opened wide from the statement, so Jade continued on as she held the other girl's attention, "I… we fell asleep in Freddie's arms while watching TV and I woke up in his bed about…" She pulled out her mother's phone from her pocket to look at the time then finished, "…about an hour and a half ago."

The twenty seventeen Jade shrugged a shoulder and forced her voice to remain calm as she avoided the younger girl's eyes, "Wow, you guessed that sometimes I would sleep with my ex, big deal. You did your homework you creepy stalker."

Jade smirked turned to her right and pointed to the old muscle car with a smirk on her face as she asked, "Maybe, but where did I get that?"

The shorter haired Jade shook her head then stepped out the door to get a clear view into her driveway to satisfy her curiosity. Her mouth dropped slightly open and her arms dropped to her sides at seeing the black Dodge Charger. She whispered out with a disbelieving tone, "How… how the Hell _did you get that_?"

The corner of her mouth lifted up and verbally pricked at her, "I already told you: I went to sleep with Freddie and I woke up here. Do you want me to answer you inside or you prefer we have this conversation outside in your underwear?"

The shorter haired woman frowned and gave her a harsh glare then turned to head back inside with the teenager quickly following behind her.

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Author's Note: For those of you who don't know, future Jade's appearance is from a character Elizabeth 'Liz' Gillies recently filmed as a guest star for a future CBS comedy called 'Friend Me'. If you get a chance to see some of the photos she took of herself during filming, you should because they are interesting to look at and they are Jade turned up a few notches.

Also, some of the headlines Jade read are allusions to predictions that an iCarly character Caleb made for the year 2077. It is an interesting list.

Special Guest Appearance by Jennifer Connelly as Ruby Lynn West

Special Guest Appearance by Sean Combs as Himself


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Hey everyone, I got another chapter for you already. I hope the first chapter peaked your interest in continuing to read my 'let's have some fun' story.

Twilight Warrior 627: Of course the readers aren't sure of the setup, it is the hook of the story that I hope people come back to continue to read. I would be interested to hear where you think I got this idea from.

PD31: I had that same concern about typecasting Elizabeth, but I'm going to hope everything works for her. I did hear that she had auditioned for various things, so I can't wait to see her in other things and in more variety of roles.

How this world evolved? You'll just have to continue reading.

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Chapter 2

Jade followed her older self inside the multimillion dollar home and shut the door behind her. She took a moment to glance around the expansive interior and immediately sucked in a breath at seeing the splendor of the home and felt as if she had just stepped into an episode of MTV Cribs. She was limited to standing at the foyer at the moment, but from what she could see, it was decorated as one would expect one of the hottest (in more ways than one) musicians in the world: an expansive house with everything in place and apparently custom furniture and some high class artwork.

She didn't have more than a few moments to try to take in house as the older Jade quickly turned around and demanded, "I'm giving you a minute to explain what is going on before I call the cops."

Jade snapped her attention back to her shorter haired version and spoke the first thing that came to mind, "For what? Driving with expired tags?"

"NO! For stealing _my car_," she spat out in anger and giving the younger girl a cold stare.

The darker brunette laughed out softly, "Your car? It's Freddie's car, but he's not here, so it's mine." Her smile faded to challenging stare as she finished, "He'd want me to have it."

The older Jade quickly crossed the distance to get right in front of her younger self to the point of them almost touching noses. She shouted while a soft flush instantly formed under her pale cheeks, "It's my car because he didn't want to take anything with him when that son-of-a-bitch left!"

Jade clenched her teeth while staring at the older girl tried to calm her breathing. She had to resist the urge to just slap the girl for calling Freddie that (even if a part of her thought Mrs. Benson could be a real bitch).

The musician apparently didn't like having to wait even a moment for the teenager to respond as she fumed out, "To Hell with you." She turned and headed deeper into the living room. She picked up a cordless phone from a base unit resting the table next to large light beige couch that dominated the room other than the ridiculously large flat screen television. "You can spend the day in juvie for the car."

The darker brunette chased after and hissed out through clenched teeth, "I'm not some twin or impersonator. I'm you and the only way I can explain it is that Anna must have something to do with it!"

The older Jade stopped midway through dialing for gate security then turned to look at Jade with a surprised expression. "Anna?"

Jade smirked and seized the momentum as she saw looking into her older self's eyes that was the last thing she was expecting to hear, "Freddie's angel? The one that fixed his leg and wrist? Healed André's grandmother and Cat's brother, oh and my grandfather? The one that showed him what it was like if he said yes to Sam? Yes, _that angel_."

The shorter haired teenager slowly sat the phone down without thinking while she continued to stare at apparently her younger self. She snorted out defensively, but the younger girl could see right through the façade that was being put up and see the worry and fear, "Carly or Sam could have told you that, Hell, Freddie could have told you that just to send you over here to fuck with me."

Jade's eyes squinted and looked to the older girl as if she had lost her mind. She let her know it by asking with a mocking tone, "Why the jank would Freddie want to hurt you? And why do you think he's a son-of-a-bitch? Why isn't he here?"

The shorter haired Jade cleared her throat and avoided Jade's eyes as she muttered out with a false sense of confidence to the younger girl's ears, "Why? Why should I tell you? Why should I bother humoring you? Now I'm at the top, you're hoping to get some dirt on me and make an easy buck?"

The older West took a step forward and her hesitation turned into outrage as she accused her, "Is this what's this is about? Maybe you heard it from one of those jealous losers, but you want the whole story so you can sell it to the highest bidder? Here's some advice, look up Nevel Papperman and see where it got him."

The pale teenager snapped back, "You're not even making any sense! If Freddie or any of them told me about Anna and the rest, why would I need anything from you? They don't even know about Anna. And I know what happened with Nevel! I was there. Nevel and his goons wanted me to tell them what really happened between Freddie and Carly that made him decide to move in with me. Colonel Shay beat the chizz out of them and Freddie nearly killed Nevel for it."

The older girl swallowed and looked nervously as her words appeared to penetrate her angry façade, "Shows what you know. Freddie was just defending me—"

"Bullchizz! Nevel wasn't rushing at me; that's just what the Colonel told the cops so they wouldn't arrest Freddie for knocking his teeth out and breaking his nose _after_ the fight was already over. He was going to beat him to death for thinking Nevel and his thugs were going to rape me if I didn't tell Nevel what he wanted to know and Colonel Shay had to pull Freddie off of him."

The musician took a step back and tried to keep up an impassive expression, but Jade saw right through it and knew she had the momentum back. Jade nodded along as she finished, "Yeah, that's the reason… no one would say the _R_-word, but that was what mom, the Colonel and Freddie were afraid Nevel was going to pull even if he really wasn't. That's the reason Freddie would have killed him and who else knew that besides me, my mom, Freddie and the Colonel?"

The night clothes wearing Jade glanced down to the floor and nodded for a moment as she thought. She looked up a few seconds later and asked, "Let's just say Anna… dropped you here and you're really my younger… version, why? Why would she have done that?"

The teenager furled her brow and retorted with a flippant tone, "I don't know, but seeing that Freddie and you—I are broken up and my mother is faced down on her bed passed out drunk, maybe she wants me to figure out why and fix everything before it happens… like Freddie tried to do in that other world where he said yes to Sam with that Jade and Beck."

The older Jade's cheeks flared with a deepening red coloration.

Jade smirked as she further rubbed in the truth, "I know about that too."

The musician shouted out in a hateful tone, "I don't want him back! I don't want that bastard in my life and if you're here to learn something then learn this: as soon as you get back you dump him and kick him out to go back to Seattle. Save yourself and me the pain and headache of dealing with him, his fucked up problems and all those fucked up people in Seattle."

The teenager put on a slightly fearful expression as she found out something that could frighten her: herself. She cleared her throat and rallied her courage to ask, "The pain? From what? The guy who loves me?"

The older girl crossed her arms under her chest, rolled her eyes and snorted out, "Loved you? Right, Freddie _loved_ me."

Jade brow furled at the comment while the other girl continued to stare coldly at her. Their staring contest lasted only a few seconds before the older girl turned and started walking out of the living room while commenting, "Damn, I need a drink."

The green streaked hair teenager followed her older self into the expansive kitchen and watched as the twenty seventeen Jade reached for the refrigerator door then reached inside to grab herself a beer. She took the bottle opener magnetically hanging off the side of refrigerator to pop the lid. She discarded the lid on the counter lifted the drink towards her and asked, "Drink?"

Jade slightly tilted her head to the side and looked to her as if she had lost her mind.

The lighter brunette shook her head with a soft laugh. "Oh… that's right, you're what? Sixteen? Seventeen?" She smirked and shook her head for a moment before taking a sip from the bottle. She licked her lips after taking the swallow then jokingly commented, "I hadn't had my first drink yet."

Jade shook her head as she crossed her arms under her chest. She sarcastically asked, "Isn't it a little early?"

Older Jade snorted out, "It's late somewhere," then took a full swig from her drink this time tilting her head back. She leveled her head and pulled the bottle from her lips after swallowing the liquid then commented with a dry tone, "And I'm going to need to be a little hammered if I'm going to have to put up with you and your nonsense about loving Freddie and thinking he loves you."

The younger girl nearly snarled at her as she retorted, "Then why don't you just cut to the chase and tell what happened so I go ahead and _fix it_ and won't be some burden on you?"

She started laughing and glanced down to the floor as she held the bottle in her right hand and cradled the bottom of the bottle in her left hand. She looked up to meet her eyes and started lecturing her as if she was a small child, "You really think if you find that one little thing you're going fix everything? That if you change one little thing you'll magically fix everything?" Her face fell as she continued, "You can't fix the fact that he really doesn't love you or when it comes down to it he's just like every other guy. They won't really listen to you and they'll think you're too much a mess or too mean or too much a burden on them when they're trying to fix their life or some other bullshit excuse they can come up with or always taking someone else's side."

Jade tilted her head slightly to the side and whispered out in a confident and somewhat dismissive tone towards the shorter haired woman, "I'm talking about Freddie Benson, _not Beck_."

The early twenty-something tilted her head to the right side to mirror her younger self's action and smirked as she sarcastically replied, "Same difference." She took a sip from her bottle then continued with a bitter tone, "For all the love they claimed, they both turned out the same way and wanted the same thing… something I obviously couldn't give them… Beck found it in Tori, Freddie? Don't know about him; he probably found some girl next door like Carly at MIT and started dating her. You know, 'normal girls'."

Jade sucked in a breath through her nose as her mouth became a thin line.

A small smile formed on the older girl's face and shrugged her left shoulder as she flippantly finished, "I know you think you love Freddie and that he loves you and I know the sex with Freddie is great… even comparing to what I'm getting today, it was… _fantastic_ and we had some good times together; I'll give Freddie that, but… just go ahead and let him go so you don't have to deal with all his bullshit problems either because he'll get sick of yours real soon."

She held her arms out and motioned with her drink and smirked as she confidently commented to drive her point home, "The faster you put him behind you, the faster you can focus on your career and enjoy making it to the top without all those losers trying to drag you down for awhile."

Jade clenched her jaw tight and stared coldly into her older self's eyes. She wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of even thinking she was getting to her.

The doorbell rang which grabbed the girls' attention from their staring contest. The shorter haired Jade snorted out some of her building irritation at her younger self rebuffing her and set the bottle on the counter then started on her way towards the door. Jade naturally followed her older self to the front door, but hung back as the girl opened the door to reveal a man with light grey hair in his early sixties, but in apparent great health.

She smiled and greeted the man with a surprisingly friendly manner, "Mason."

He grinned widely in return as he stepped inside and gave the girl a quick hug. The musician patted him on the back then he pulled back and rested his hands on the girl's shoulders and greeted her, "Jade! How is my girl? Enjoying your little break?"

She gave him a soft smirk. "Yeah, I might have snatched a whole six hours of sleep."

He took a moment to laugh at her small joke then shut his mouth tightly and held his right thumb over his mouth with his fist balled up. He dropped his hand then whispered out, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize that you weren't dressed."

Older Jade cocked her head to the side and smirked. She didn't bother to cross her arms to cover herself as she answered, "It's alright, I just got up. It was a late night last night."

He gave her a concerned expression as he asked with an apprehensive tone, "I just hope you didn't party too hard. We need you rested up for your performance and the party afterwards."

She rubbed just under her nose with her right pointer finger and sniffed. "No, I didn't even get a hangover."

The older man smiled and gave an approving nod. He turned his attention and smiled while looking to the younger Jade. He cheerfully asked, "Oh and who is this?"

Jade shut her mouth for a moment as she caught off guard by the attention. "Ah, I'm—"

The present day Jade quickly answered with a motion of her hand to her, "This is my cousin… Jessica."

"Oh?" he asked with a raised eyebrow towards the other girl. "I didn't realize any family was going to drop by." He introduced himself with a smile, "I'm Mason Thornesmith."

"Thornesmith?" Jade whispered out as she had heard the name before, but had trouble trying to place the name.

Her older self was quicker to supply the answer, "He's my record producer."

The teenager threw her an annoyed expression then gave a respectful smile to Mason as she answered, "Sorry, it just… it was a long night for me too and I guess my brain just doesn't want to wake up." She turned on the charm as she continued, "Who doesn't know Mason Thornesmith? You _make_ the Platinum Music Awards."

Mister Thornesmith smirked as he looked Jade up and down then commented, "Well thank you for the compliment. I've always tried to put on the best show possible for the fans." He gave her a charming smile and continued, "If you don't mind me saying, the resemblance is quite striking." He looked back to his moneymaker and commented, "She looks almost identical as you looked when we started our little journey together even down to the piercings."

Jade reached up and let her fingertips run over her eyebrow piercing. She glanced over to her older self then looked back to Mason. She smoothly answered that she almost fooled herself, "You could say that… she's kind of an inspiration to me in more ways than one."

A hopeful expression formed on Mason's face as he asked, "So you're hoping to be a musician one day?"

She bit her tongue for a moment then quietly admitted, "Maybe, but I was hoping to become a professional actress after I got out of school."

"Well so is your cousin." He glanced to who he thought was the only Jade. "If you don't mind me discussing it in front of her…" When he saw that she was just as curious on what he was about to say, he took that as permission to continue, "We're working on plans to get her some acting roles while taking a little break from her music."

The lighter brunette crossed her arms over her chest and asked with a slightly impatient tone, "Still waiting for you to get me some decent scripts, so… if you don't look like you're dropping any off, what brings you by this morning?"

He gave her a disarming smile while asking, "I just can't stop by and visit?"

She rolled her eyes and commented with a hint of sarcasm in her voice, "Mason, you're already my producer; you don't have to sweet talk me."

He chuckled and answered with his cheerful tone, "Well, I wanted to see if you would have lunch with me, I wanted to go over a few last minute details about the performance and maybe look over some scripts and… a little surprise I'm trying to hammer out."

His comment peaked her interest and she asked with a hint of curiosity, "What kind of surprise?"

His answer was a coy smirk.

She ran her tongue across the inside of her bottom lip and glanced to the floor for a moment. "Oh, you're going to be like that?"

"No Jade, it's just that I want to be able to tell you everything with all the details at my fingertips." He smirked as he raised his left eyebrow and met the young twenty-something woman's eyes. "I know how you get when I can't answer all your questions."

Jade found the pair jockeying for dominance in the conversation a little nauseating.

Her older self rolled her eyes and finally admitted, "Where do you want to meet?

He grinned wildly at apparently winning the point and getting the girl out of the house. "How about the Chin Chin on Sunset? In about an hour?"

She nodded and casually answered, "Sounds good."

"Okay, in an hour. I'll see you there," he answered in a tone that Jade recognized in an instance of him reveling in his minor victory. He looked to the teenager and spoke, "Well Miss Jessica, it was nice to meet you. I wish for all your future success."

The dark brunette gave him a polite smile then the record producer turned to head out the door.

The older Jade walked to the door to make sure it was closed after her producer walked out the door and as Jade heard the clicking sound of the mechanism, she snapped out with an irritated tone, "Jessica? Really? You had to tell him I was Jessica?"

She turned to look at her younger counterpart and smirked as she retorted, "Well, you're going to be just as irritating to me as she was, so it fits. Too bad I can't lock you up in a basement."

Jade gave her deep frown as her older self walked past her and towards the stairs. The teenager crossed her arms over her chest again and glared at her older version's backside as she walked away without a care.

* * *

Author's Note: Already getting some insight on what's going on, but of course that isn't the entire story. What surprise could Mason have for her?

Guest starring Charles Shaughnessy as Mason Thornesmith


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: I'm glad that people seem to enjoy this little tangent I've gone on. Thanks for the readership and the reviews so far.

Twilight Warrior 627: I can't even hint to the reasons without spoiling something. You'll just have to keep reading.

Fanfic-Reader-88: I think the look Liz has for that role could have been a future Jade or what she would have been like if Victorious would have been a set as a more mature show on say TeenNick. Why would she let Mason run her career? Where's Jade's pride? Why did they really break up? Those are some very good questions you'll have to read further to find out.

Jeremy Shane: Thanks. I hope you enjoy it.

Again, remember the warnings for this story. Possible trigger words.

* * *

Chapter 3

Jade caught up with the shorter haired young woman starting her way up the gently winding staircase and demanded of her older self, "Where are you going?"

The early twenty-something stopped on the third and forth steps to turn and look to her. She gave her a dismissive expression as she answered with an impatient tone, "Upstairs, where does it look like I'm going?"

Jade's mouth dropped open and looked up to her without bothering to hide her shock. She admonished the older girl as if she was talking to Cat when she lost all patience for the childlike teenager, "So you're just going to blow me off? Your past… _self_ just drops in on you and you're going to take a lunch meeting with your record producer?"

She looked at Jade with a cold stare that actually took her partially off guard. "A producer that has made me one of the number one artist over the last five years and who's going to get me back into acting, so yes, I'm going to go have lunch with him, especially to find out what this 'surprise' is going to be. It's not like you're going anywhere until you figure out what Anna wants you to learn and I don't see why I have to put my plans on hold for that angelic bitch."

The armature actress snapped back, "That 'angelic bitch' healed our grandfather and Freddie, _the man I love_, so maybe you should be a little more grateful to her. Chizz, even I'm not that much of a gank."

The shorter haired Jade took a sharp breath then retorted, "Fine, you think that way, but I don't care at the moment. I need to get ready." She turned and started walking further up the stairs, but stopped when Jade called out, "So what do you expect me to do?"

She looked over her bare shoulder and answered, "_I don't care_…" She paused in her train of thought then turned to completely face her and formed a smirk on her face.

Jade slightly frowned at seeing that expression as that was the same expression she would wear when she was thinking of doing something that most people would not approve of doing.

The twenty seventeen Jade's smirk grew bigger and she eyed the girl as if she were potential prey. "On second thought, why don't you come with us? I'll show you why you should go ahead and dump Freddie and what it's like to actually make it. Not just thinking about it or dreaming about what it would be like to be that one in ninety-thousand that actually makes it. You'll get to actually see what it's like for everyone to know and love you."

Her smirk faded to resigned expression as she finished, "Besides, the last thing I need you to be under the delusion that you and Freddie can make it when you go back and jank over your own future in the process."

If her older self was not a few steps up the stairs and out of reach, Jade would have swung on the girl to take the remaining hint of smugness off of her face.

Apparently the other Jade could read her expression and commented, "I'll prove you wrong and you'll be thanking me instead of wanting to hit me, but in the meantime, I'm taking a shower, so don't touch anything." She turned and continued walking up the stairs.

The dark brunette shouted out, "Mom is still passed out drunk."

"That's her choice," she flippantly responded as she reached the second floor.

Jade clenched her jaw tight in annoyance then started up the stairs to follow. She obviously was not going to follow her into the bathroom, but she was curious at the appearance of the second floor.

As twenty seventeen Jade disappeared into the master bedroom then into the bathroom and shut the door, Jade followed her to the bedroom to take look around the expansive room. Unlike the rest of the house, it was far darker in color as her current room and recognizing a few pictures form her room, but nothing else off hand that was missing from her room at home. However, it wasn't the stark contrast to the rest of what she had seen so far in home that made the room the older girl's own, but just how much of a mess the room appeared with strung out clothes on the floor, the dressers, a lamp and even hanging off the side of the flat screen television hanging on the wall. The closet door was open with a few drawers open from the dresser pushed next to the opposite wall to the window out to the front yard.

Jade started pacing the room to look around to get an idea of what made up her future self. She looked around and noticed several pictures, but they were only of celebrities that her older self had posed with and people she didn't know, not any of her family or 'friends'. As she walked around, she wondered what happened to her pinned butterfly collection, but did notice her peacock feathered ping-pong paddle hanging on the wall.

She stopped for a moment to have a seat on the edge of the unmade king-sized bed (which of course it was since she had woken the girl up). She gripped some of the sheet in her left hand and felt the exquisite softness of it. She let a playful smirk play on her face about how nice it would have been to wake up in these sheets with Freddie over the last several nights that she shared his bed.

As she looked to the sheet, a rare, but familiar scent reached her nose. She turned slightly to get a better look at the ruffled sheet. She didn't see anything unusual, but she couldn't ignore the smell. Her eyes shot open as she realized that her older self recently had sex on the bed then instantly stood up as if she thought she sat in something, which her subconscious was actually worried that she had done such a thing. She looked around and noticed that there was a male sock among the female clothing.

She slightly frowned at realizing that the twenty-something girl wasn't kidding about being sexually active. After hearing the girl's opinions on guys, it wasn't a stretch that it had been a one night stand with someone and hoped that she was still smart enough to be using protection (even if the only protection she used with Freddie was the birth control she had been taking since she hit puberty).

The pale teenager shook her head and started walking around again until she stopped in front of the mirror and dresser set then had a seat. She looked at the mirror and her reflection, but didn't pay attention to it as she noticed a few pictures stuck to the side of people she didn't know, but she did notice one that looked familiar: Ian, but he was a few years older, maybe seven or eight. She cracked a soft smile at seeing that apparently this Jade hadn't disregarded her little stepbrother as she thought that would be one of the first the girl would resent.

She looked down on the dresser set surface and saw the various (and some quite expensive) jewelry pieces ranging from the high class to the dark and twisted stuff including jeweled skulls and a black cross ring that she quite approved of her future self owning except for maybe the skull, but one piece in particular caught her eyes. A small smile formed on her face as she found the multicolored bracelet that Ian had given her for Thanksgiving. It was a little worn from use, but still in pretty good shape. She let out a relieved breath at finding it seeing that most of her other stuff had been missing in her room. She decided to tie it around her left wrist as she had took off hers before her shower last night after getting in after the earthquake.

As her eyes roamed over the vanity, she found something odd that caught her eyes. She reached over to her right and picked up a half full translucent orange bottle with a white label and read off the prescription: Methylphenidate. She couldn't pronounce it which she didn't think was a good sign, so she pulled out her mother's phone from her jacket pocket then started typing the name into a search field.

She quickly brought up a page about the drug and quickly read over the description of the drug. She blinked in confusion at reading that it is subscribed to treat ADHD. _'When did I get ADHD?'_ she mentally asked herself and a deep frown formed on her face. She looked over her shoulder to the closed bathroom door with a concerned expression. She wondered what other medications the girl was keeping and taking.

"Holy chizz… I'm druggie," she muttered to herself in disgust while slipping her mother's phone back into her pocket. She shook her head and placed the bottle back on the vanity. She leaned to her right and opened up on of the drawers and started looking for other medication bottles because she figured if she found one, she'd find others. The first and second drawers on her right came up empty so she turned to the ones on the left side of the vanity. The next two drawers were empty, but she assumed that her future self probably kept them in the bathroom.

She turned and stood up from her seat then walked to the bathroom door. She could hear the shower running, so she slowly turned the handle to open the door and slipped inside with the sound of running water covering her movement. She paused for a moment to see the large bathroom that included a bathtub large enough to double as a Jacuzzi if she so choose (which she guessed her future self used if she still liked to pretend she as being cooked by witches) and the highly decorative interior. She brushed away being impressed with the room and looked for the place where she would keep medicine and other toiletries. She passed a quick glance over her shoulder to see that with the highly decorative glass shower door and it steamed up from the hot water, she figured that her older self would have just as a hard time seeing her as well as hearing her, so she felt safe enough to start snooping through the girl's personals.

She quickly looked through them to find another medicine bottle and some birth control pills. The birth control pills didn't surprise because even if she wasn't apparently having one night stands, she _hated_ cramps. She wondered for a moment if they had invented better ones in the last five years. However, she quickly ignored that thought as she heard the shower stop running, so she pulled out her phone and took a quick snapshot of the medicine bottle then put it back in its place and the phone in her pocket.

She slipped back out of the room as the shower door opened and an arm reached out to grab a towel.

Jade had a comfortable seat back at the vanity as her older self stepped out the bathroom wearing a black robe drying her short hair. The older girl gave her a half smirk and asked with a slightly impatient tone, "You mind if I get dressed in private?"

The pale teenager let out a snort then smirked as she retorted, "Yeah, I guess it would be pretty weird even if it's just me, you, whatever?" She got up from her seat and headed out the room while ignoring the frown the semi-pale girl from the hot water was directing in her direction.

As Jade walked down the stairs, she pulled out her mother's phone from her pocket and pulled the picture back up of the medicine label. She reached the bottom step then looked up the name of the second medicine bottle and started reading up on the medication. She blew out a breath and shook her head in disgust just as she found that it is used as an anti-depressant.

About a good fifteen minutes later, the older West finally walked down the stairs wearing a black athletic tank top cut halfway down the middle then held together by about a dozen safety pins while wearing a fingerless black leather glove left hand with the black cross ring on her left middle and ring finger. She completed the outfit with a black waist length leather jacket, a pair of tight, dark blue jeans and silver studded black belt.

Jade didn't notice as while she was waiting, she had took a seat in a movie theater leather seat with her leather jacket thrown in the seat of an identical chair and spoiled herself by looking up OnDemand to watch the series finale of _'The Walking Dead'_.

The older Jade shook her head and asked with a hint of dismissiveness, "What are you doing?"

Jade looked away from the ridiculously large screen to her older counterpart and retorted, "I'm in the year two thousand seventeen, so I wanted to see how some of my shows ended. While I was flipping, I found out they made _another_ Star Wars movie."

The shorter haired woman rolled her eyes and turned away as she commented, "Yeah, well Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Dingo years ago, but I stopped caring a long time ago. Let's go; I'm starving."

Jade pressed the power button on the remote, turning the television off then stood up from her seat and grabbed her leather jacket from the other seat while dropping the remote in it. She started following the older girl while putting her jacket back on and flippantly commented, "I guess beer doesn't count as a breakfast food."

The pale young woman snarled in return with a look over her shoulder then headed for the door with Jade in quick pursuit.

The ride was smooth in the black 2017 Audi A5 coupe for teenager out of time as the famous musician drove the pair through the streets of Los Angeles. Jade looked out on the passing scenery to see if there was any great significance in the city over the last five years. She didn't see any that jumped out at her and guessed that five years wasn't that big a jump for things to significantly change other than one business failing and another one taking its place.

She finally passed a glance to the driver and asked, "What's with the new tats?"

The fellow pale girl furled her brow and asked, "What?"

Jade rested her left elbow against the passenger door and clarified while giving the girl an amused expression, "The extra tattoos, especially the one on your chest?"

She rolled her eyes and snorted out, "I like 'em and they mean something, just like the star on our arm. That's all there is to it."

Jade slightly nodded along then asked with a hint of impatience, "Okay, so what do they mean?"

She glanced over to her younger self and smirked, "I'll let you figure out why, but if everything goes as I hope, you won't have to worry about the skull one." As soon as she uttered the words, she quickly became quiet and her eyes widened in surprise.

The darker brunette took that to mean that her future counterpart didn't mean to let that part slip out, but jumped on the opportunity, "So that one has something to do with Freddie?"

The famous musician softly bit her tongue then finally answered, "Yes… he along with Beck are dead in my heart and they're going to stay that way; good riddance to both those bastards. Are you happy getting a look at your future psyche? "

Jade frowned at that sentiment because she realized was looking at exactly what she didn't want Freddie to become yet somehow it was she that became that way. Did her anger she had been feeling for Beck over the last week eventually turn into what she was looking at now? Had she somehow projected that same anger and feeling of betrayal to Freddie? Was Dusty wrong that everything was going to be okay… was she wrong that everything was going to be all okay?

A thought did occur to her that she might have just stumbled on to the reason for some things she found in the other girl's room. Avoidance was not going to solve anything in her mind, so she stated calmly, "I found your pills and I'm not talking about the birth control ones."

Shorter haired Jade sucked in a sharp breath then snapped, "You went through my things?!"

"Technically, _my things_," she countered with a coy voice.

The famous musician gritted her teeth and hiss out barely keeping her anger in check, "_I told you not to touch anything_."

Jade smirked and rolled her eyes. She sarcastically retorted, "Touching things is a part of life or did you forget that over the years?"

Her eyes shot open as she apparently recalled the statement she said to Cat from her perspective five years ago. "Don't lecture me like I'm that failed abortion of a girl!"

Jade was taken aback from the twenty-something's comment while the girl took several calming breaths. The teenager would have to be blind not to see that much of a nerve she struck with her older girl, but she didn't care as she pointed out with a cold voice, "I know she can get on our nerves, but she is my friend… chizz that's…" Jade shook her head as she realized she didn't have the words to express her disgust at her saying such a thing.

The musical artist squinted her eyes and snorted out dismissively, "Really? It's not like she ever got better and lucky she's not in the loony bin. Damn, I don't understand how Sam still puts up with her."

Jade instantly frowned and brow knotted as she asked with clear confusion in her voice, "Sam?"

Her voice was filled with disgust while answering, "They're roommates the last time I heard. It's a long story that I don't care to tell."

The darker brunette looked back out to the front of the road then whispered a hint of irritation, "Fine—so what's with the medication?"

"I have a prescription," she snapped back defensively.

Jade's brow instantly knotted as she looked at her in disbelief and sarcastically countered, "A prescription for a medicine used to treat ADHD. Did I suddenly develop that?"

The twenty seventeen Jade remained silent for a few moments as she kept her focus on beating the light. Moments later after clearing the intersection, she finally suggested, "How do you know I just didn't develop narcolepsy? Like when Tori played Walter in Sikowitz's play."

"What play?"

She let out a soft chuckle. "Oh? You haven't done the play yet? You're going to be in for a surprise."

Jade tilted her head down slightly and to her right to get a clear view of the girl then asked, "I'm going to be in a play with Tori?"

"Unfortunately yes, but at least he didn't make us kiss… though I think he would have enjoyed it if we did."

"Sikowitz is weirdo, but he's not a pervert."

The older girl chuckled, "He skipped over Freddie and Robbie when handing out roles to purposely have Tori play your _husband_ then he made us go out on a date together to learn how to play husband and wife… Freddie and mom were quite upset about it. Looking back on all his stunts, I think Freddie was right that he wanted me and Tori together. He probably wanted to eventually watch us do something together."

Jade blinked and shook her head as she tried to fathom that idea and that may she really had lost her mind in the future, but quickly brushed it aside and demanded, "Stop avoiding the question. You expect me to believe you developed narcolepsy? What about the anti-depressants?"

The lighter brunette may have answered with a still anger filled voice, but Jade could tell the hint of nervous undertone, "I'm not taking anti-depressants."

Jade snorted out and shook her head then gave her older self an 'are you serious?' expression while asking, "You want me show you the photo I took of the bottle?"

"I am not a drug addict!" she shouted back defensively.

"You're taking prescriptions for things you don't have or your so screwed up anyway you need anti-depressants; which is it?"

She growled out in frustration, "I'm not having this conversation with you."

"We're in a moving car; you can't exactly go anywhere."

The musician tilted her head slightly to her right and gripped the wheel tightly as a soft, angry red flush formed on her cheeks. Instead of making any kind of retort, she remained silent.

Jade waited patiently for the girl in her early twenties to respond, but soon realized her plan. She huffed out in irritation, "You're giving me the silent treatment like you're a five year old?"

Older Jade brought the car to a snail's pace then turned the vehicle to the right to pull around the restaurant then another right to pull into a parking lot. She finally responded with a smug comment as she brought the car to a stop and turned off the ignition, "I don't have to, we're here." She undid her seatbelt and opened the driver's door then stepped out.

Jade quickly mirrored the same movement out of car. She clenched her jaw tightly for a second as her older self started walking back to the restaurant and hitting the keylock with her keychain. The darker brunette slammed her passenger door and shouted in frustration, "You just can't ignore me on this!"

She threw her gloved hand back and shouted, "Watch me!"

Jade growled in frustration as she watched the other girl quickly make her way to the restaurant without a care about leaving her.

Chin Chin Restaurant  
8618 Sunset Boulevard  
West Hollywood, CA

Jade caught up with the famous musician at the entrance of the restaurant then followed her inside. The older girl pushed open the door and though she might be annoyed with her younger self, she had the decency to keep the door open for her to enter with her. The musician immediately saw Mason at a table with a lovely dirty blonde woman sitting cattycorner with him on his left at the small square table nearly in the middle of the restaurant and started towards him.

Jade fell in step behind on her way to the table. She got closer to the table, she assumed the young woman was Mason's assistant as she saw a silver and rectangular PAD with the Pear Logo, but not in the shape of a pear, resting on the table. It wasn't the comically oversized ones from a few years ago, but about the size of the pear shaped pads. Also she hoped the young woman was only the assistant as she didn't look that much older than her future self and imagining her being with someone as old as Mason kind of wigged her out.

Older Jade reached the table and Mason immediately stood up and gave the young woman a friendly kiss on the cheek. He wore a huge grin as he pulled back and continued, "Jade, I'm thrilled you could make it."

"Well you did twist my arm to get me here," she replied with a hint of bite in her voice as she took the seat to Mason's right.

He softly laughed that aside while retaking his seat, "Guilty as charged as you would say, but—I have very good reason."

Older Jade flicked her brow up quickly and commented with mild sarcasm, "I hope so getting me out before breakfast."

He maintained his broad smile and motioned over for a waiter. "We'll take care of that."

Jade took off her leather jacket and draped it over the back of the chair then quietly took the remaining seat across from Mason as his focus was on older Jade, but the music producer finally noticed her presence. He rested his elbows on the table and laced his finger and flashed a smile to her then looked to his award winning musician spoke in a tone that suggested it was a question, "I wasn't expecting company."

The shorter haired Jade smirked as she casually replied, "Yes well… I wanted to show her what it's like to be a musician. Not just the glamour, but all the little details behind making me what I am, so she's going to tag along for the next few days."

He nodded along, but Jade saw that his smile faded just slightly and realized that she had just been used to even up the score with Mason, but at the moment she didn't care because in all honesty she was using her future self just as much.

"Well, I'm glad to have her aboard. You'll going to be in for a real treat, but I must ask that you keep anything we discuss to yourself." He leaned forward and slightly smirked as he whispered in a conspiratorial manner, "Business confidentiality and all."

The musician sarcastically answered for the teenager, "Oh, she can keep her mouth shut. She's not going to blab out anything."

Jade tilted her head slightly to the side and gave her a slightly disgusted expression at speaking to as if she was a child. She briefly wondered if it was a sly way of responding to her previous comment about reminding her about touching things were a part of life. The older girl gave her a narrow gaze and slight smirk.

Mason quickly spoke up and apparently ignored the looks the pair was giving each other (which Jade actually doubted) and asked, "Where are my manners?" He motioned towards Jade and introduced the young lady to his left, "This is my assistant Chelsea…"

The darker brunette politely nodded to the dirty blonde. "Chelsea."

Mason picked up, "…and this is Jade's cousin, Jessica."

"Jessica," she returned with a heavy English accent.

The waiter walked up and brought the table two more menus. Future Jade quickly looked over the menu and ordered a significant meal while younger Jade ordered a more modest meal having not eaten too long ago. Mason and Chelsea quickly ordered their meals without looking at the menus as they had probably decided on what to eat as they had waited for their money maker to arrive.

The waiter quickly hurried off to fulfill the order as future Jade leaned forward and rested her folded arms on the table. "So what is this surprise you're so eager to talk to me about?"

The record producer gave her a disarming smile, "Well, other than double checking some details for the show on Tuesday and wanting to go over with you some scripts, it's another one I really want to talked to you about."

Older Jade sat up and turned her full attention to Mason. "Another one?" she asked with a curious expression that betrayed her genuine curiosity of what he was talking about.

"Yes. The ones so far I've been getting are just walk-on roles for you," he started but his face tightened in disgust as he continued, "which aren't worth your time and I doubt you would enjoy them, but…" His face brightened back up as he eagerly finished, "But there is one I'm talking with Paramore Studios for a small, but significant, appearance in a new big budget film that'll be going into production very soon."

The shorter haired woman let out a soft laugh as she commented, "Then I'd consider that a good reason to get me out."

Mason answered with a tight smile and his voice was stressed as he continued, "Yes, but there is one more reason that I wanted to talk to you about by treating you to lunch."

The future Jade's confident smile was quickly dashed as she asked with a mixture of concerned and annoyance in her tone, "And that would be?"

The record producer threw his assistant a quick glance then let out a soft laugh hopefully to disarm his musician from getting angry over his next words, "The star of the film."

"What about them?"

Mason put on a diplomatic expression as he answered, "The lead actress is Tori Vega."

The musician leaned back in her chair and looked to Mason with a mix of shock and anger.

The pale teenager was equally as surprised and asked out of reflex, "Tori's an actress?"

Mason blinked and slightly frowned at the teenager. He asked with a bit of curiosity in his voice, "Do you know Tori?"

Her mouth slightly dropped open for a moment and shrugged a shoulder. "I've met her once or twice," she quickly lied to cover her reaction.

He nodded along apparently accepting the answer.

"_No_," the older West spoke with a voice laced with disgust and anger.

Mason looked back to his musician and tried to patiently reason with the young woman, "But Jade, I think—"

She cut him off with an impatient tone that challenged him to try to argue his point further, "No, I am not going to play second fiddle to that girl. She'll just take every chance to rub it in that she's the star as payback for you choosing me over her for the awards show years ago."

Mason raised a hand hoping the gesture would calm her. "I know there is some bad blood between, but you—"

"You're damn right there is—"

"But you won. You're the one that took the world by storm, you're the one on top and they want you in the film." He smirked as he finished, "They are nearly begging me to convince you to be in it. I've been doing this a long time and I know desperation when I hear it and they are desperate."

The girl crossed her arms over her chest while pushing back in her seat. She wore a deep frown and let out a soft breath through her nose.

Mason glance to his assistant with a soft smile as he was apparently quite confident that she was going to agree with him.

Jade looked on to her older self and tried to assess which way she was going to choose. Surprisingly it was far more difficult than she suspected in guessing what her other self was thinking trying to read her body language. She was five years older and had a far more different mindset than her along with the fact that she knew the girl had a partially drug raddled brain. She decided to throw her thoughts into the mix since from her perspective she might be making the decision in five years. "Just because she gets the lead, you're going to turn down a chance at being a professional actor?"

The pale young woman gave the teenager a harsh glare as she snapped out, "Whose side are you own?"

Jade narrowed her gaze as she sarcastically retorted, "Do really have to ask _me_ that question?" She snorted out in disgust and continue before her older counterpart could make any kind of comeback, "Even when Tori was made up as a zombie and still kept the lead in 'Uptown, Downtown', I—you didn't drop out just because he wouldn't give you the lead. They want you—" she pointed to Mason, "—and if Mason's right, they need you. If you don't even consider it, the only one you're hurting is yourself, not Tori."

The older West clenched her jaw tight and looked to Jade with a harsh glare, but apparently couldn't come up with a reply.

Mason's mouth formed a small 'O' shape as if he was about to whistle and his eyes opened wide. Chelsea's mouth partially dropped open as she looked just as shocked. The record producer spoke out with a soft laugh, "I see you're not afraid to speak your mind. You are a brassy one."

Jade retorted with a quick flick of her eyebrows, "Oh, I do have brass."

The shorter haired young woman took a deep breath then looked to Mason. She asked with a guarded tone, "So they need me?"

"Yes," he answered with a smirk as it was clear to him that Jade's 'cousin' was the one that could tip the balance.

"Do you have a script for me to read? I don't want to commit to a piece of shit just to be in a film. I don't want turn out like Rihanna and that whole _Battleship_ fiasco years ago."

Mason nodded his head and eagerly replied, "We can take a look at it this afternoon if you're up to it."

Jade suggested, "Maybe we can see Tori too? You should talk to her and get her feelings on it."

Mason smiled as apparently saw the opening to build on that train of thought. "That might not be such a bad idea. You could meet with her and maybe answer your concerns about the movie and figure out how you two can remain civil with one another if it turns out that you want to do the movie."

She frowned and looked to her younger counterpart that gave her an equally annoyed expression. She looked away as she had no interest in a staring contest with herself to look towards Mason and reply with a mocking tone, "Yeah, but I bet it would be good for the publicity if an old rivalry heated back up on set?"

Mason bowed his head slightly and a tight smile formed on his face. "Yes well… you have to strike the right balance—" He lifted his head and quickly corrected with a false sense of innocence to the younger Jade's ears, "—if such a thing would happen."

Jade slightly frowned as the record producer's comments and tone which sowed the first seed of doubt about the man that would bring her to the top one day.

The pale musician shouted out in frustration and defeat, "_Fine_, I'll look at the script and see Tori this afternoon."

Mason smiled and glanced to his assistant.

Jade watched the exchange of eye contact that made her more suspicious of the music producer. She leaned over and whispered to her older counterpart, "So the whole movie thing worked out for Tori?"

The musician growled out in frustration without answering the teenager just as the food arrived. As soon as her plate was in front of her, the shorter haired woman quickly dug into it in the hopes that it would make her feel better.

Jade blew out a sharp breath through her nose and shook her head in disgust.

* * *

Author's Note: I hope I filled in a few more pieces or I could have just built on more of the mystery. Oh, and if you're wondering about 'Star Wars', yes I'm of course aware that Galaxy Wars is suppose to be the parody of it and Star Trek, but iCarly and Victorious has established that Star Trek and Star Wars do actually exist in universe as separate intellectual properties from Galaxy Wars. Useless bit of triva.


	4. Chapter 4

Hello everyone. I hope everyone had a nice weekend. We get a new episode of Victorious this Saturday and the final episode of iCarly as well, so I hope you all tune in to those episodes.

Twilight Warrior 627: The more you pull back the more there is to unravel. About Sikowitz, one character's opinion does not necessarily reflect my feelings. You want to know what future Tori is like? Read on.

PD31: That's an understatement PD31. I wouldn't rule out Cat and Sam being friendly as a contributing factor towards how future Jade feels.

Fanfic-Reader-88: Oh, it certainly does thicken. Of course I was inspired by the character's appearance in Elizabeth's future role, so I thought I'd come up with a reasonable explanation (entirely it is that reason I won't say) for that particular tattoo.

I thought it would be obvious why future Jade would turn it down: she's being asked to play second fiddle to Tori again. I also assumed that Mason would do a good job simply for the fact that show more or less established that he was a good producer.

To comment on Cat, I will wait for her appearance to tell the story.

Warnings: Language and potential eye rolling for surprised appearances. Just go with it, please? If you think it stinks, let me know.

* * *

Chapter 4

In route to the Vega Residence

As Jade could see from her passenger seat, if the musical sensation version of herself was going to have to deal with Tori Vega, she wanted to get it done with as quickly as possible from the girl's aggressive driving and that wasn't even taking into account that the musical sensation nearly ran out of the restaurant and left her behind once she was done with her meal. Mason had no complaints for his musical act's eagerness since he was getting exactly what he wanted and was on the phone with Tori's representative during the meal to get them to meet after lunch.

The dark brunette asked the driver with a curious tone, "When's the last time you acted?"

"About a year ago on Saturday Night Live." She smirked as she thought back on the several skits she performed for the show and the positive reaction she had received from the actors and the audience.

"And?" the teenager asked with a raised eyebrow.

She raised her right eyebrow and questioned, "What do you mean 'And'?"

Jade's mouth fell open looked at her with mild disbelief. "Oh my God, do I have to explain it to you? You want to be in a movie and you haven't done anything other than a few skits in years?"

"I haven't agreed to be in the movie!" The shorter haired woman rolled her eyes then continued as if trying to lecture her younger self as a child, "And if I do, I've been a little busy, you know with a music career."

Jade blew out a harsh breath from the frustration she was feeling for the older girl. "Music career or not, you want to act in a movie you need to practice."

She continued with a patronizing tone, "That's what rehearsals are for."

Jade softly laughed out and countered, "And embarrass yourself in front of everyone until it all comes back to you? You walk in there and start screwing up they're going to look at you like your just some silly little musician who thinks she can act then what are you going to do?"

She snorted out confidently, "I'll just show them up."

The darker brunette turned her attention back to the front windshield with mild disgust at her older self being so flippant. The pair remained quiet for a few minutes until Jade spoke again, "So what happened to everyone else?"

"What?" the older girl asked being visibly caught off guard with the question.

Jade took a patient breath then continued calmly, "Before I left the house to find you, I went online to try to figure out what was going on. I looked up some news and accidentally found you then looked up Freddie, so I know what's happening with him. I know that he's working for the Pear Company somewhere in California, you said Cat's rooming with Sam and obviously the whole acting thing's worked out for Tori, but where's everyone else? What happened to them after graduation?"

The present day Jade slightly frowned as she remained silent.

Jade rolled her eyes and snorted out with a slightly irritated tone, "If you want me to drop them as… 'friends' then you got to tell me something about them."

The shorter haired woman took a breath and answered as if it made her physically ill to answer, "André made it big as a musician and he's on tour right now."

The news brought a smile to the pale teenager's face and commented without bothering to think, "That's great! André made it… the world should see how great he is." She thought on how eccentric the musician could be at times, but through it all, he was a good guy with the soul of a poet that the world needed to hear.

The older Jade frowned at her younger self's reaction.

The longer haired Jade failed to notice the expression on her counterpart's face as continued to wear the smile and asked, "Have you ever toured with him?"

She stared forward almost as if she could burn a hole through the windshield then responded with a resentful whisper, "No. I wouldn't be good for his image to be seen with me."

Jade snorted out in surprise while asking, "His image? Okay, you look like a mess, but this is André we're talking about. _My friend_. I don't believe for one second he wouldn't want to be seen with me."

The older girl pulled the vehicle to a stop as she reached a red light then gave Jade a cold stare to snap, "He didn't want me to sing his song 'Okay' years ago."

She countered in a tone that to her, she was pointing out the obvious, "He wanted to sing with Tori because she's _his best friend_ and he might like Tori _that way_ without realizing it. You're suddenly feeling upset about that he would have preferred to sing with the girl he likes?"

The older girl sarcastically laughed out, "Well that didn't work out for him and he's not my friend. None of them are my friends and they're not yours either."

Jade rested her elbow against the door and her temple on her closed fist. She rolled her eyes and dryly commented, "Why is that? How is not one of them my friend?"

The pale musician hissed out in disgust, "They were never my friends: Tori was not my friend, I tolerated Robbie, no one liked Trina and Cat was basically a pet. They were nothing but jealous losers that wanted to hold me down at the moment I was making it big."

The green streaked haired teenager deeply frowned and quickly snapped back, "Jealous losers? You just said André made it big and you missed André in your rant. Tori is a movie star and Cat? Really _Cat_ tried to hold you back?"

"Yes, because as happy as they were at first that Mason picked me, they got jealous that he chose me over Tori."

"They suddenly would get jealous of you? Why?"

"Beck knows how to manipulate people…" She glanced over to the teenager and smirked with an air of superiority in her voice, "But you know that… he did that for months while talking to Carly behind your back."

The pale teenager growled in response as all her feelings of anger and betrayal… and pain about her ex she had felt over the last week flared up in her heart.

The older West slightly shook her head as she kept her focus on the road. "Oh, he was real good in stirring up their jealousy with trashing me about taking Tori's spot at the PMAs when he made his first moves on Tori. After the show they tried to convince me not to have anything to do with Mason. That he was just using me, but they were just too stupid to realize that I was using him just as much."

The dark brunette's anger eased for a moment as it was replaced with confusion, "How could you take her spot?"

"I wasn't Mason's first choice, Tori was."

Jade frowned with confusion as she looked at her older self's profile. "What?"

"We sent in auditions to Mason and he originally picked Tori, but Tori didn't want to listen to Mason. She didn't want to take his advice on how to build up publicity before the show, so he got fed up and realized how good my audition was, so he asked me if I wanted to perform."

Jade slowly asked with a nod of her head, "And you said yes…"

The older West snorted out a laugh, "Of course I did. I'd be a fool not to perform in front of hundreds of millions of people."

Jade cautiously asked as she didn't really want to know the answer, "So he thought you were second best and settled for you?"

Her pale counterpart frowned. "No, he just corrected his mistake and realized who the better performer was."

Jade took a soft breath and looked away towards her passenger side window, but she wasn't entirely convinced of such a thing. She softly asked, "What did Freddie have to say?"

The older girl grinned, but it wasn't a happy one as she focused on the road. "Oh you know Freddie… it offended his sense of fairness and right and wrong. He agreed with Beck that it was wrong for me to take Tori's place. He thought it was wrong because he saw it as Mason replacing Tori and using me to spite her. He said it was wrong then had the nerve to tell me that I was just willing to be used to get famous and I was throwing out my principles for it."

Jade took a deep breath as she thought about the time she did compromise her artistic principles just so she could get 'Well Wishes' produced by Mrs. Lee. She had listened to Tori that was just the way it worked if she wanted Mrs. Lee's money or anyone else's in the future. It had made her sick the entire time that she had done such a thing. She whispered out while letting her vision become unfocused, "That's when you broke up with him?"

The pale musician passed a guarded glance towards Jade then turned her attention back to the road. "That was just the final straw. I already told you all the reasons why we broke up… he really didn't love me… he wasn't the man that I fell in love with."

The teenager took a sharp breath at hearing what she believed was the real truth to why they had broken up: she had failed in saving him from his bitterness and anger, she had apparently failed herself by becoming the same way and with both, the relationship with the man she loves failed and became worse than her parents' failed relationship.

She looked back to the passing scenery to her right and felt the same coldness creeping over her heart as it did on New Year's as she sat on her porch while Freddie was more than a thousand miles away.

She remained quiet for the rest of the ride and her older self didn't disturb her as she wore an impassive expression and focused on the road.

Vega Residence  
Hollywood, CA

The older Jade pulled the coupe into a spot in the large driveway and quickly turned off the ignition. She huffed out a breath and exited the vehicle in a hurry with the sense that she wanted to get this meeting over with a soon as possible.

Jade followed suit in stepping out of the car and let out a whistle while looking over the house. She muttered out at seeing the impressiveness of the two story house while shutting the car door, "Wow, she hasn't done too badly either."

The multi-platinum artist snorted out with mild disgust, "It's probably only worth a million." She started walking to the door without worrying about Jade keeping pace with her.

Jade opened her eyes wide in surprise at the petty insult then quickly caught up with the girl at the door.

The chopped haired young woman quickly tapped the doorbell and waited impatiently for someone to answer the door. However as impatient as she felt in having to wait for Tori, she did take the moment to give Jade some last moment instructions, "Remember, you're my cousin. We can't tell her that you're me from the past."

Jade crossed her arms under her chest and questioned, "You think she's going to buy that? Look at me; she's not going to forgot what I looked like five years ago. She's not Mason; she's going to realize who I am pretty quickly. Tori is many things, but she's not that stupid."

The older girl blew out an irritated breath and pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment. She dropped her hand and answered with an impatient tone, "How is the truth going to help anyone? And do you think they would believe you? 'An angel of the Lord pulled me out of time and dropped five years in the future to try to teach me some life alternate lesson.' Really?"

Before Jade could answer, the door opened to reveal Trina Vega. She didn't look like she changed at all but her hair being a little shorter and solid brunette and gone were the blonde highlights she had from early twenty twelve.

"Jade?" she questioned out of curiosity at the musician then looked to younger Jade and stuttered out while her eyes nearly bulged out of her sockets, "And Jade?"

The darker brunette lifted a corner of her mouth and eyed her older self in a non-verbal 'I told you so'.

The musician ignored her then muttered out, "Trina," as if just saying her name was a foul thing in her mouth. "What are you doing here?"

The elder Vega sister squinted her eyes and looked at her with an offended expression. She sarcastically answered, "I live here."

She dismissively laughed, "So you're living off your sister?"

Trina clenched her jaw tightly as her nostrils flared open and gave the younger woman a glare. "I am not living off Tori; if you didn't have your head so far up your butt of thinking you're the greatest thing in the music world, you would know that I'm a very successful actress."

Jade spoke in surprise, "When did you learn to act?" She quickly shut her mouth as Trina turned her glare to the teenager.

Her older self supplied the answer, "She's a comedian and a joke of one at that."

Jade looked to her older self and raised her pierced eyebrow and casually commented, "Well that makes sense. Freddie always thought that's where she actually had talent."

"How would you know?" Trina demanded of teenager. She didn't give Jade the chance to answer as she dismissively commented to the musician, "You got yourself a groupie? Or did you pay her to make herself look exactly like you from years ago? Is your self-esteem that low?"

The shorter haired woman rolled her eyes and muttered out as if Trina was stupid for pointing it out, "She's my younger cousin; that is why she looks like me."

Trina frowned and eyed the pair with a facial expression that showed that she didn't look convinced of her former schoolmate's story.

The short haired pale woman snorted out, "What are you doing answering the door?"

The older girl sarcastically answered, "Tori's busy and I was passing by, so I opened the door."

"That's a first," Jade muttered under her breath with a role of her eyes.

Trina was about to snap at the younger Jade when the present day one interrupted, "Then tell her to get un-busy because we have an appointment."

The actress crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow as she questioned, "Really?"

"Yes, but it's none of your business."

She snapped out with her temper, "None of my business? Why don't I just shut the door and you can come back when you learn some manners?"

Twenty seventeen Jade's nose flared in anger and she figuratively shot daggers at the older Vega sister with her eyes. She spat out, "Try you no good bitc—"

"Trina? What's going on?" Tori's voice called out from behind the older Vega sister.

The older Vega stepped aside for Tori to reach the front door and see the pair. The younger sister blinked as she looked at the pair and her mouth slightly dropped open. She didn't look any different than she did five years ago other than maybe two or three inches off the end of her hair.

"Tori," the shorter haired twenty-something hissed out in disgust.

The sound of her name shocked her out of her stupor then the longer haired brunette gave her former friend a soft smile and a polite nod of her head. She cleared her throat and awkwardly greeted the girl, "Jade." She looked to the younger West while she continued to wear the surprised expression.

The future Jade motioned her head to the younger girl and introduced, "This is my cousin—"

"Oh please, just tell her the truth," the darker brunette snapped out.

Tori slightly frowned and looked between the pair. "What?"

The additionally tattooed Jade blew out a breath and answered Tori with a stressed voice, "This is my cousin Jessica."

Jade frowned at her older version ignoring what she had to say.

Tori nervously let out a soft laugh, "Okay, but the resemblance is—"

Jade interrupted before her older version could continue whatever explanation she wanted to give Tori, "Striking, I know. It's almost like I am her younger self and was plucked out of time and dropped here."

The musician threw a cold stare at the amateur actress, but Jade smirked in return.

The Vega sisters looked to one another and exchanged confused expressions. Tori looked to the girls and awkwardly laughed out, "Okay…" She motioned then inside and asked, "Why don't you come in?"

Tori turned and the pair of the same person followed her inside with Trina closing the door and bringing up the rear. The longer haired brunette led the girls into the expansive living room then the musician saw why her former friend was busy. A teenager in a woman's business suit stood up from the couch at seeing the group of girls walk back into the living room. She wore a bright smile and her brunette hair pulled back in a ponytail.

Tori smiled and was about to make introductions, but the girl rivaling young Jade as the youngest in the group smiled and offered her hand to the older Jade, "Katie Knight, Rocque Records."

Older Jade looked at the hand then back up to meet the girl's eyes. She asked with a hint of dismissiveness, "Why are you here?"

The smile turned into a smirk on Katie's face as she answered with the faintest of hints of sarcasm, "I thought it would obvious since I'm here talking to Tori and introduced myself from a record company."

The future Jade apparently wasn't impressed as she smirked and dismissively commented while looking at Tori, "You're negotiating with them? Really? Are you that desperate to make it?"

Tori frowned at her former friend at seeing that it was going to be a hostile encounter.

Jade curiously asked as she remembered that in her time, the record company was making a comeback, "You're the guys that produce Big Time Rush?"

The Jade of twenty seventeen sniped, "Yeah, but they haven't seemed to figure out that the 'boy band' is dead."

Katie smirked and countered with confident voice, "Dead? That's a funny thing to say when they rival your record sales and still going strong for the last seven years."

The beige streaked haired young woman frowned deeply at the eighteen year old who smiled in return. The potential stalemate was quickly adverted when Katie suggested, "And I think your sales could be larger if you signed with us."

Older Jade blinked as she was caught off guard by the blatant offer.

Katie's smile grew bigger as she saw that she had the momentum and continued, "And we wouldn't make you be something you're not."

The present West frowned and directed a harsh glare at Katie as she snapped, "You don't know a damn thing about me or my career."

The younger girl maintained her confident smile as she calmly replied, "I know an act when I see it and you're an act."

The musician took a step forward and glared at the younger girl, but Katie held her ground and put on an even expression for a moment.

Tori was about to try to diffuse the situation, but Katie smirked and pulled out a card from her jacket and held it out for the older Jade. "When you want to get off Mason's leash, give me a call; we'll be more than happy to let you be yourself."

The older West glared at the eighteen year old then at the card as if the girl was giving her something infectious.

Jade was quicker and snatched the card from Katie's hand. "I'll take it if you don't want it." She looked to her older self and commented, "You should keep your options open."

Katie finally turned her attention to the younger Jade and gave the girl a quick once over with her eyes. She commented with a curious tone, "Wow that is weird; has anyone ever told you that you look just like Heather Fox?"

Jade shrugged her leather jacket covered shoulder and casually answered, "Once or twice."

The brunette apparently accepted that answer then looked to Tori. "I see that you have some catching up to do. We'll talk later. How about lunch tomorrow? My treat?"

Tori grinned widely and gave her an agreeing nod. "Sounds good."

The record representative passed the older Jade one last glance then started on her way out with Trina on her tail apparently trying to convince the girl to give her a shot at a record deal.

Jade shook her head and closed her eyes as she saw that at least one thing hadn't changed over the last five years.

Tori put on a nervous smile and clasped her hands in front of her while looking at the musician. "So, how have you been?"

The pale young woman snapped back, "I'm not here for small talk or to catch up with you because I don't give a damn about your life. I want to talk to you about the movie your bosses seem to desperately want me to be in and see if I'm interested in doing it."

Tori slightly frowned and looked down to break eye contact.

Jade blinked in surprise at the harshness directed at Tori. The girl could irritated her to no end before everything changed with breaking up with Beck and she had remembered directing that level of vitriol at the girl once before in regards to the whole prom issue and her canceling her performance, but not over something as simple as 'how are you doing?' She suggested, "You think you might want to chill?

The older West turned her glare to her younger self and snapped, "You think you need to be quiet?"

Jade turned to complete face the woman and crossed her arms under her chest. "No, I don't think I will be quiet. You need to talk to her, not bite her head off if you want to get your acting career going."

The musician softly bit her tongue as a soft flush formed on her cheeks to display the anger she was feeling for her younger counterpart.

Tori looked awkwardly between the pair as it had been a while since she had seen someone standup to Jade. She felt a sudden sense of concern about how her Jade was going to respond, but a soft laugh sounded from behind the time twins, "Hey, I see Katie dropped by, but I'm not sure Trina's going to let her go…"

Both Jades turned their attention away from their staring contest to the sound of Beck's voice.

The long haired young man (as to his shoulders) walked into the living room and blinked as he looked to the twenty-something then to the teenager and asked, "Jade and Jade?"

* * *

Author's note: I've watched only a handful of BTR episodes to kill time at times (and to see Liz Gillies' guest appearance) and found that the Katie character seemed like a good version of Sam and I thought I'd toss that in there other than using RPX records.

Special Guest Star: Ciara Bravo


	5. Chapter 5

Happy Thanksgiving my dear readers. I wanted to give you a Thanksgiving present and hope you enjoy this chapter.

Fanfic-Reader-88: Yes, you can kill some time and one could say that for any show. I didn't want to misrepresent anything to my readers in saying that I was a fan if I'm not and that's not a knock to those that are. I did particularly enjoy and specifically tune into the one that Liz guest starred.

Trina is brunette for the specific reason that is that is what Daniella looks like now since Trina as caught up in age to her.

The reference to André is to specifically get you to ask those kinds of questions about what is going on.

Tori's motivations are another subject that I'm leaving up to you as the reader to decide.

Jeremy Shane: Thanks and here is more.

PD31: Poor Jade. Whatever happened to get her here?

Twilight Warrior 627: There is of course more story, so here it is.

On with the story. Slight language warning, but nothing too bad.

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Chapter 5

Jade blinked at looking at her ex-boyfriend. Beck still had his handsome features and had grown his hair out to nearly his shoulders. He cautiously walked further into the living to the pair and focused his attention on her.

The former Hollywood Arts student crossed her arms over her chest and snorted out dismissively, "Beck."

He actually ignored his present day Jade and looked to the teenage Jade and asked with a surprised tone, "Who are you?"

Musician Jade deeply frowned at being brushed off, but answered him anyway with a cold tone before her younger self could blurt anything out, "This is my cousin Jessica."

He cracked a smile and raised an eyebrow as eh questioned his ex-girlfriend, "Ah… no?"

Her nose wrinkled and squinted while looking at the actor. "What do you mean 'No'?"

He let out a soft chuckle, "I know what Jessica looks like from a Thanksgiving I went with you that one time and that's not your cousin Jessica. She's blonde, so who is she?"

She took a sharp breath at being called out, but before she could respond with a reasonable explanation, Jade spoke up, "I'm Jade… from five years ago."

Tori and Beck exchanged looks with one another then back to the younger Jade. "What?" Tori whispered out in disbelief.

"Don't," the older version warned, but Jade ignored her as she continued, "I'm Jade and this is the future for me. I fell asleep with Freddie and I woke up here this morning… actually at home with all my stuff gone and I tracked her down." She looked to her shorter haired version and demanded, "And where is my chair?! Where is my PearBox?!"

The beige streaked hair frowned deeper while Tori and Beck exchanged looks again.

Tori nervously laughed, "Okay, your cousin just lost her mind."

"She's not Jade's cousin," Beck softly corrected.

Jade pursed her lips as she gave Tori her trademark glare which actually spooked the older girl and made her briefly reconsider her position. "I am Jade West."

Beck raised his hands and spoke with a calming voice, "Okay, say you are Jade, when exactly are you from?"

Jade looked to her left to meet his eyes and answered with a surprisingly patient tone, "Five years exactly, to the day; it was the night of the earthquake where I was with Cat at Gibbon's house. The window and guitar broke and Cat called Robbie and you showed up with him to help fix the guitar and window."

Beck sucked in a sharp breath and cautiously eyed the girl.

Tori walked around Jade to stand next to Beck and rested a hand on his arm and questioned, "This is crazy. Jade's just trying play some kind of sick joke and obviously just told her that. How in the world can you be from the past?"

The teenager wasn't bothered by the actress doubts with a shrug of her leather covered shoulder and casually commented almost to just brush them off with a quick explanation, "The same way Cat's brother and André's grandmother were miraculously healed over Christmas."

Tori blinked then glanced to Beck to see if he heard the same thing as she did. She looked back to Jade and asked with a surprised tone, "Anna?"

Jade's brow furled and thin lined mouth as she crossed her arms in surprise. "You know what really happened?"

Beck embarrassedly explained at seeing the younger girl's expression, "We know about her from Carly. She told me what happened after your first visit with her to get her help to try to help Freddie a few years ago."

The green streaked haired teenager passed a quick glance to her time twin in confusion then took a soft breath as she kept her eyes on Beck for a few more moments then turned her attention to Tori and asked, "So you know too?"

Tori softly smiled as she answered, "I am his fiancée; we've shared a lot over the last few years and it eventually got out: your grandfather, Sam's scar gone and Freddie's leg and wrist healed… finding out that she was the flight attendant that helped us get back to L.A. on New Years."

Jade blinked and pursed her lips slightly at the news including the part she didn't know about the angel's hand getting Freddie home that day, but she really didn't see the need to comment on it. They knew the truth and there wasn't really anything else to add, but she asked with a slightly curious tone, "And you didn't think either of us was crazy?"

Beck answered confidently, "I didn't doubt you or Carly and—"

The current Jade sarcastically commented, "Of course you didn't doubt your co-conspirator back then."

Beck answered with a determined expression on his face and slightly irritated tone, "I told you a long time ago Jade, I'm not ashamed to call Carly my friend."

She snapped back, but directed it at Tori, "Careful Tori, the last time you shared a guy with Carly, it didn't work out that well for you."

Tori frowned and gave her a glare with the musician smirking confidently in return. The longer haired brunette took a deep breath as apparently the comment did prick at her, but she questioned, "If she's really you from the past, why are you here worrying about a movie and dragging her along? You think it should just be business as usual?"

The teenage Jade answered quickly with a somewhat tired voice, "She wants to show me what it's like to make it big and why I should all drop you as friends and dump Freddie when I get back before any of you can really hurt me."

Tori looked to her present day Jade and asked with complete shock and confusion, "Why? Why would you want her to pull away from us? We were your friends and Anna's given you a second chance to fix everything and that's what you want to do with it? You want to stay this angry and hateful and alone?"

She lifted her right hand and pointed at Tori's face. "It's not broken! You all turned on me! All of you! You were never my friends and I don't want anything to do with you." She looked to the pale teenager to her right and waved her off in disgust as she finished, "We don't even know if it is Anna! She's just guessing."

Beck softly started with a worried expression, "Then why haven't you called Dust—"

The musician was hissed out, "I don't want to hear a thing from you, you damn bastard! You acted like you cared and sorry for your mistakes during our relationship and happy that I could be happy, but it was all a damn lie. You and that damn bitch tried to sabotage my relationship with Freddie! The faster you're out of her life, the happier I'll be and ready when you try to convince me I shouldn't have anything to do with Mason after the show." She took several deep breaths to try to catch her breath.

Beck quickly shut his mouth at seeing the outright hatred on her face.

Jade whispered out that caught all the twenty seventeen versions of herself and others, "I never got over the anger did I?"

The actor looked to the younger version of his ex-girlfriend with a concerned expression on her face. He quietly answered, "No, you didn't."

She took a deep breath then asked with a surprisingly calm voice, "Since I have the chance to ask you, I want the truth: did you betray me? Did you and Carly plan for New Years?"

Her older counterpart shouted her interruption, "Of course he did! He and Carly planned as soon I told him what I was planning to do."

Jade threw an annoyed glance at her and cut her off, "I didn't ask you!" She turned her attention back to the older version of her ex-boyfriend as she continued with an even tone to her older self, "He has nothing to lose in telling me the truth or anything to gain from lying. He's with Tori and they are getting married. Telling me either way isn't going to mess them up in the future."

She looked back to the actor and asked again, "You can at least give me that: the truth after everything between us."

Beck took a soft breath and let his shoulders slump. "You're right, but I told you the truth that night: I just needed someone to talk to. During our talks, me and Carly bonded and eventually became friends. Carly didn't mean to ruin that night for you two. She just thought why not try to forgive Nora like Freddie had forgiven her? She still regrets it to this day that she messed that up for you."

Jade stared into his eyes for a few more moments then looked down at the floor to contemplate his words. She had the same answer as she had from the start after hopping half a decade, but what did that mean… what was she going to let it mean for her?

Her older self shouted out in frustration, "You can't believe him!"

The darker brunette looked up to her lighter haired self and responded with a curt tone, "There's no point in him lying about it now. I'm not breaking up with Freddie and he's going to be with Tori. There's no reason for him to lie."

The young woman frowned at her counterpart and gave her a disapproving glare. "Unless he doesn't want Tori and he wants the second chance?"

Tori directed a harsh glare at her former friend and Beck didn't look too please at the accusation.

"Enough!" Jade cut her off and caused her to look directly at her younger self in shock. "Now you're just sounding paranoid. How far do you really think he would go? How far do you believe he would go to hurt me?"

Twenty seventeen Jade closed her mouth tightly and glanced away with the first bit of shame Jade had saw on the girl since she arrived in the future.

Beck gave her a hopeful expression, "Wow… it only took me five years to get you to believe me."

Jade looked to Beck with a soft smile and raised pierced eyebrow. "Believe you? It's been five years for you, but it's only been just over a week since I found out. Thinking that you betrayed me hurt because… I loved you Beck Oliver and it felt like a knife going into me believing you could do such a thing to me. It looked really bad that you could have done that with everything that happened and telling me you had been talking to Carly that entire time." Jade softly shook her head. "You can't blame me for thinking it was exactly how it looked like and Carly's history."

He gave her a nod to let her know he accepted what she was giving him. "I just wished you would have given me the benefit of the doubt since it was me."

"Well I might have if you hadn't shouted during Sinjin's game show that you wished Freddie would go back to Seattle and tried to drag me into the janitor's closet to talk to me when I didn't want to talk to you, I might have been a little more willing to listen."

Beck raised a hand rub his left jaw line as he answered, "My mistakes… at the time I wanted you back, but I didn't want to sabotage you and Freddie to get a second chance."

Older Jade rolled her eyes and snorted out a dismissive breath. "That's convenient to say now and makes you look oh so sympathetic of being the guy who realized to late how bad he fucked up."

Her ex narrowed his eyes will looking at the young woman and she returned with a harsh glare.

A heavy silence quickly fell among the quartet from the stare off, but apparently the shorter haired Jade couldn't take it or didn't want to deal with it anymore as she spat out, "We're not going to get anything done 'til she's gone, so I'll see you later." She turned and quickly made her way to the door.

Jade blew out an irritated breath then started after her. She paused for a brief moment halfway to the door as the couple chased after them and looked over her shoulder. "Sorry, but she's my ride and I don't want to lose the Charger in her gated community."

Tori threw up a hand and replied with a sympathetic tone, "It's okay."

Jade was about to turn as her older self was exiting the house, but a thought occurred to her and asked, "She's going to have a concert on Tuesday at the Boomerang Theater; do you want to come?"

The beige streaked haired woman stopped in her tracks at hearing the invitation. She snapped around and shouted in outrage, "You can't invite them!"

She looked forward to meet her other's stare and retorted, "I just did. It's my concert too."

The musician nearly growled as she bore a cold stare at the teenager.

Tori cracked a smile. "We'd love to come."

Jade nodded while her older counterpart turned and stomped away. She waited one more moment to whisper out with sympathetic tone, "Congratulations on the engagement."

Tori smiled and nodded her head while Beck answered, "Thanks."

The pale teenager nodded to her ex then turned to hurry up to catch up before the young woman decided to leave her out of spite.

As soon as Jade closed the door behind her, Tori asked Beck with a worried tone, "Do you think it'll make a difference?"

He sidestepped to stand behind her then wrapped his arms around to rest on her abdomen. He smiled and gave her a soft kiss on the right cheek then rested his chin on her right shoulder. "We can only hope."

"Do you think Anna is really behind this?"

"I don't know… you think she would give Jade and Freddie a second chance? Everyone a second chance?"

Tori turned her head to meet her boyfriend's eyes and asked, "I don't know; do you think we should try to call Freddie?"

Her statement hung in the air for a moment as Beck was cautious in replying, but finally whispered out, "No, I think it's up to her to work things out with Freddie."

Tori took a step forward to pull out of her fiancé's grasp and headed for a phone near the couch and comment, "You're probably right, but in the meantime, I'm calling Dusty to see if he knows what his mom might be up to; I don't want us to be accidentally messed up with whatever her plan is for Jade—both of them."

* * *

Twenty seventeen Jade gripped the steering wheel tight with her cheeks slightly flushed displaying her anger as she navigated her vehicle through the streets. She gritted out through her teeth, "You can't believe that bullshit."

Jade didn't bother to look at her as she rested her chin in her palm and elbow braced against the door and watched the passing buildings. She whispered out with a tired and somewhat detached voice, "What's the point of lying to me? He's with Tori."

The brunette musician pointed out for a second time with a tensed filled voice, "Maybe he doesn't want to be with Tori and just using you for his second chance to get back with me."

Jade turned her head to look at her to counter in disparaging tone, "Even if it was true, which I don't think for a moment it is, that's funny coming from you when you said you wanted to do the same thing with me; try to get me to do what you want."

The twenty-something spared her the quickest of glances before focusing back on the road as she answered the challenge with a slightly offended tone, "You want me to apologize for looking out for _myself_?"

"I want you to pull your head out of your butt and stop being so paranoid that everyone is out to get you!"

"I have to be paranoid!" she snapped back in disgust. "I have to worry about people wanting to bring me down. They tried to do it before I made it and they keep doing it now. I have to worry about people pulling out a phone and taking a picture of me to catch me doing something that'll destroy me. We're lucky no one recognized us at Chin Chin and took some snapshots. I have to worry about people going through my _garbage_ for God sakes."

Jade snorted out, "Have you looked at yourself in the mirror? Why are you worried about how you'll look to everyone? You're not exactly playing the sweet 'girl next door' kind of musician. God, Mason was almost salivating at lunch about a public feud between you and Tori for the movie. It's not positive publicity that he wants and you don't look like you care for it either, so what does it matter."

The older girl shook her head and her voice cracked slightly as she whispered, "Damn, I can't even trust myself. You're no different than anyone else."

The teenager knotted her brow as she didn't understand what her older self could mean by the comment, but the young woman didn't care to elaborate and remained silent for the rest of the trip back to her house.

About fifteen minutes later, the coupe pulled passed the security gate, through the street and into the driveway. The car was barely in park before Jade stepped out and started heading to the Charger. The older girl quickly stepped out and shouted to the retreating teenager, "Where are you going?"

The teenager shouted back without looking back, "I'm going."

"Where?"

"I'm going to go check on mom and some other people."

"Other people?"

Jade stopped in her tracks and looked over her shoulder. She questioned with a teasing tone, "You wanted me to see how terrible my friends really are? I'm going to go do that. You want to come?"

She squinted her eyes and looked to the girl with evident disgust on her face. "I don't want to talk to any of them."

The teenager softly smirked as she casually replied, "Okay, so I'll go do what you want me to do and you don't have to deal with them. You get two things you want, so do you really want to complain?"

She crossed her arms under her chest and slightly frowned. She grudgingly admitted, "You know what? That's a pretty good idea. Just don't stay out too long."

The pale dark brunette blinked in surprised and asked with a hint of disbelief, "You going to let me back in?"

The musician glanced to the ground and spoke for the first time with a genuinely concerned voice, "Where else are you going to stay until you're sent back?"

She snorted out a breath and crack a genuine smile to her then opened the door to the muscle car and slid into the driver's seat. She slid her key into the ignition and turned it. She waited a moment then the engine came roaring to life bringing a relieved smile to the girl. She tapped the accelerator and pulled out of the driveway.

The future Jade watched as she drove away and muttered under her breath and shook her head, "Damn, I forgot how stupid I was at that age."

Author's Note: Remember, it is up to you as a reader if this story has any bearing or any element in regards to 'We Love Each Other'; like I said, I'm neutral in the whole thing. Thanks for reading.


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Note: Thanks for reading so far and reviewing. I have another chapter for you. Okay originally this is my Nano to get out a 50,000 word story in the month, well that's not going to happen with dividing my time with other stories. It's going to get done by the end of the month, but at the end of December (hopefully sooner). On the brighter side, my total word count for the month across all my stories as of today is ~63,000 words.

Oh, and did you see that ending to iCarly?

Anyway, on with the story.

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Chapter 6

Apartment  
Los Angeles, CA

Jade took a deep breath as she looked at the light brown door of the apartment. She double checked the apartment number on her mother's phone to see if she had the correct number then slid the phone back into her pocket and cautiously raised her right balled fist and softly knocked on the door. She waited for someone to answer the door and a few seconds later she wasn't disappointed, but quite surprised with the door opening to reveal Cat holding a baby not even a month old cradled in her left arm.

The redhead looked at her with a surprised expression which was mirrored on Jade's face. The shorter girl whispered out slowly, "Jade?"

Jade cleared her throat and awkwardly answered, "Kinda… hi Cat." Her eyes naturally drifted towards the sleeping baby Cat was softly rocking with her right hand protectively covering the baby's stomach.

"Hi," she greeted just as cautiously then commented, "You look different than you do on TV, like you're—"

She looked up and gave the girl a patient smile while interrupting, "Like I just stepped out of Hollywood Arts?"

Cat slightly frowned in confusion with her giving her a look of a child. Her voice matched her innocent appearance as she questioned, "Yes?"

The pale teenager let out a soft laugh as she suddenly felt nervous looking at her friend. "This sounds crazy, but… I'm from the past and I woke up here this morning… five years in the future for me."

Cat looked Jade up and down with a hesitant expression then back up to meet her blue eyes. She studied the pale teenager for a few moments which was actually starting to make Jade self-conscious from the scrutiny which in of itself was strange since it was Cat doing the scrutiny.

The twenty-two year old finally asked with a cautious tone, "You're a time traveler?"

The pale girl cracked a nervous smile and replied, "Looks like it… can I come in?"

Cat gently rocked the child in her arms as she gave the girl a cautious expression as if she was debating allowing such a thing. The redhead finally relented then took a sidestep and motioned for the teenager to step inside. "We just have to keep our voices down," she instructed as she nodded to the precious child in her arms.

The pale teenager cracked a smile and cautiously took a step inside the apartment. She gave a quick glance around to assess the place and saw that it was a moderately sized place with various knickknacks and pictures on the wall with a ugly yellow couch to Jade's eyes and baby playpen resting a few feet from the couch. Cat quickly walked around her to have a seat on the couch in the center of the living room area.

Jade strolled over and had a seat next to her old friend. The pair looked at each other for a few seconds to try to get a handle of the situation.

Cat softly asked as she gave Jade a peculiar expression. She asked in a way that suggested that she already knew the answer to her question, "So you're really from high school?"

Jade nodded softly and passed a quick glance to the baby before whispering out, "Yeah… do you remember that time you invited me to hang out with you when you were dog sitting Mister Gibbon's dog and I bro—the line to Elvis' guitar broke and it flew through the window?"

Cat nodded her head. "That was… five years ago?"

Jade answered with a hint of fear in her voice as she told her story, "Right, it was for you, but to me… to me that only happened a few hours ago. I left and visited my stepbrother then I went home. I fell asleep watching a movie with Freddie then I woke up in my room just a few hours ago… here."

The redheaded young woman took in a breath as she studied her friend's eyes again as if she was searching for something. She apparently found it as the next moment she leaned forward enough to wrap her right arm over Jade's left shoulder to pull her in a half hug as to not crush the child between them.

Jade blinked in surprise then hesitantly reached up and softly patted her older friend on the back. A soft smile formed on Jade's face and she stated, "It's good to see you too."

Cat pulled back and smiled to the pale girl. She quickly answered, "How are you here?"

The green streaked haired girl gave her a small smile and hesitantly answered, "Anna… we think. She's… Tori told me you found out about—"

The shorter female's face brightened up and she eagerly asked, "The angel that healed my brother?"

Jade slightly bowed her head and cracked a small smile. She answered with an awkward tone, "Yeah, that angel. So you know about that?"

"Yeah, you did tell Carly and Sam years ago, so… but why are you here? Why'd she send you here?"

Jade blew out a breath at hearing for the second time within a few hours that her throwing up the angel story in Carly's face actually had some consequences. She turned her head to her left to look behind the couch and towards an oddly painted green wall of various pictures hanging on the wall. She whispered out, "Maybe to see how messed up everything is…" She shrugged a shoulder as she spoke, "…well of what I've seen so far with myself."

Cat's eyebrows shot up and asked with a shocked expression, "So you've met yourself?"

Jade blew out another breath and answered with a regretful tone, "Unfortunately yes and she's a mess." She looked back to Cat with a sad expression and whispered out, "What happened to me?"

The redhead slightly frowned and her eyes seemed to lose a bit of their happiness.

However that didn't pursued Jade from stopping as she asked, "I saw Tori and Beck and I got the chance to ask him what really happened on New Years, but I didn't get a chance to get their side of the story about why I pulled away from one another. Why I'm alone. Why I'm not with Freddie."

Cat took a soft breath then stood up. Jade curiously watched her as the older girl walked to the crib and gently placed the sleeping baby down for his nap. She rested her hands on the railing to look at the child resting on his back then turned slightly and looked to her with a sad expression. She whispered out with a regretful voice, "You broke."

Jade's pale brow furled as she questioned, "I broke?"

Cat gave a soft nod. "You know how you could be mean before Freddie?"

The dark brunette cracked a smile and softly joked, "Cat, I was always mean."

The former Hollywood Arts student shook her head. "Not as mean when you were with Freddie, but you got meaner again and stayed mean and angry then you got hateful."

Jade looked down to break eye contact with the young woman and thought on her words. She would not openly talk about it or agree entirely on the point that Freddie was necessary to keep her from being mean, but she would admit to herself that Freddie was a calming influence for her in a subtle way on those few occasions she might go overboard in quite stark contrast to Beck's old overt admonishing of her during their relationship when he thought she was going overboard.

She looked up and asked with a surprisingly calm voice with a hint of underlining sadness, "Why? How? Jade—future me said that you all abandoned and turned on me after the Platinum Music Awards. Was that it? Did everyone abandon me?"

Cat's face fell and a look of fear replaced it. She quickly shook her head and retook her seat next to the dark brunette. "No, we just tried to warn you about Mason. How he was using you and wasn't going to let you be you. You got mad at us and thought we were just trying to hold you back and just taking Tori's side."

"So that was it? The PMAs? I got mad at everyone including Freddie? That's where everything went wrong?"

Cat sadly shook her head and whispered out, "No."

Jade looked down at her lap and pursed her lips. She hated that the redhead seemed to confirm the picture of how things went wrong than just one little thing messing everything up. She admitted in a tired voice, "She said the same thing… there wasn't one thing to point to say 'change this and it fixes everything'. She said…" Jade's shoulders slumped and looked up to meet the older girl's soft eyes. "She told me that Freddie never really loved me?"

Cat instantly pulled the younger girl into her arms into another hug. She rubbed up and down her leather jacket covered back. "That's not true. Freddie loved you… I still think he does love you."

Jade instinctively wanted to pull away, but rested her head on the girl's shoulder and let her old friend comfort her as she did on New Years. The pale teenager remained in the embrace for seconds that stretched out to at least a minute before Jade finally pulled back to meet Cat's eyes. She took a calming breath and asked with a tired voice, "Then what? What was it? What 'broke me'?"

The redhead frowned and with it her eyes became sadder as she answered, "You broke you."

The blue/greenish eye girl furled her brow and slightly frowned.

The older girl continued in the hopes of relieving her confusion, "I think… you couldn't believe or forgive Beck then you started being angry more and more and doubting the rest of us and thought you really couldn't trust us if Beck could do that to you then the music awards happened. We tried to warn you, but you took it as proof that you couldn't trust us or thought we weren't your friends. We had 'took Beck's side' like you thought we did when you broke up and we went to Yerba."

Jade bowed her head and whispered, "You did take his side and left me by myself, but… I forgave you all a long time ago." She started nodding along at the confirmation of what she had concluded before meeting Tori and Beck. She quietly admitted, "I figured out that part: I never got over my anger with Beck. So that did poison everything? It did poison me just how I thought it would Freddie if he kept all his anger and hatred of Carly. She said he wasn't the man she had fallen in love with anymore."

Cat slightly tilted her head to the side and gave her a sympathetic expression.

"Cat… Beck—your Beck told me the same thing as my Beck, but… it hurt so much thinking he could do that to me."

"I know, but like Tori asked you: can you really believe in your heart that he could do that to you?"

The pale brunette looked up with a quickly shifted surprised expression and asked, "When did she ask me that?"

"When we went to visit Mona Patterson's house."

Jade's eyes darted trying to figure out what the redhead was talking about. "Who's Mona Patterson?"

Cat's eyes shot open and her mouth formed an 'O' shaped as she responded, "Oh? That hasn't happened yet for you. It was just before Freddie's eighteenth birthday."

Jade lowered her right eyebrow and awkwardly answered, "No, I guess not… that's next Saturday for me."

The redhead widely grinned as she apparently was thinking on something while looking at her old friend.

"So I just have to go back and believe Beck and everything will work out?"

Cat's smile faded as she regretfully pointed out, "There's still Freddie to worry about. He started getting mean too with everyone: Beck, Sikowitz, Sinjin… then he pushed all of us away after graduation then went to the East Coast for college."

The amateur actress bowed her head and blew out a breath. "I read that. He went to MIT. So I got to go back and save him and myself? Freddie was going to be hard enough in having to deal with Carly."

Cat answered with a knowing smile, "You were doing that anyway… and you have our help."

Jade let out a soft breath from her nose and cracked a small smile at seeing Cat's hopeful eyes. The pale teenager let a soft laugh and shook her head that allowed some of the tension of everything she was learning out, "Wow… I'm talking to you five years in the future and no one thinks this is crazy? Everyone seems way too acceptant that an angel could have done this or they even exist."

Cat knotted her brow in confusion and whispered out as if she was confused with Jade's comment, "Of course angels are real."

Jade softly shook her head and gave the girl a patient smile. "I've never had your or Freddie's faith. Mom never pushed the issue with me. She wanted me to come to my own conclusions, so I was always pretty agnostic about everything. You're born, you live then you die." She shrugged a shoulder. "That's just how the world works."

"But what happened to my brother and the rest doesn't require faith…" She shrugged a shoulder. "It happened. My brother…" She quickly covered her mouth from the memory of how her brother used to be.

"Yes it did…" she started with comforting smile to her. She finished somberly, "…and I'm here."

The old friends fell into an awkward silent until Jade cleared her throat and motioned with her left hand to the child sleeping in the crib. "Ah… you're a mom?"

Cat looked to the crib with a confused expression then looked back to Jade to softly laugh, "No, I'm a babysitter silly. Robbie and I aren't ready to be parents yet. We're not even married yet."

The dark brunette blew out a breath and started blinking. She asked with naked disbelief in her voice, "Robbie? You're with Robbie?"

She eagerly nodded her head and answered softly with a bright smile, "Yes."

Jade glanced around the apartment and didn't see anything that stood out to her that the curly haired roomed with girls. "So where is he? Does he live with you and Sam?"

She softly shook her head with another soft laugh, "No, it's just me and Sam and he and Rex are on tour with Jeff Dunham anyway."

She raised her pierced eyebrow as she asked curiously, "Jeff Dunham?"

The shorter girl asked with surprise that her friend didn't know the name, "The famous ventriloquist?"

"Oh? So he made it as a ventriloquist?"

Cat beamed and Jade could tell the girl was quite proud as she answered, "Yes. He's on tour and he's got DVDs and he's had TV specials. He's really popular."

The younger girl slightly nodded and allowed a soft smile to play on her lips as she asked, "So Rex is still around?"

Cat looked away and giggled, "Yes, Rex is still around."

"That must be weird… since Rex is real to him."

Cat gave a bashful smile as she answered, "Rex stays 'asleep' most of the time now when Robbie's back in L.A. and he's not mean to me anymore."

Jade blew out a breath through her mouth close to a whistle at the idea of how Rex played in the pair's relationship. "So what are you doing? Tori's an actress and so is Trina and I'm a singer, are you acting? Singing?"

The girl's smile and happy mode slightly faded as she answered, "A little here and there, but I enjoy the babysitting."

A sinking feeling started settling in Jade's stomach at hearing that her friend hadn't made it as a singer or actress. She let her regret for her friend slipped into her voice while asking, "Is that why you're living with Sam? You weren't successful as the rest?"

The redhead answered with a soft laugh, "A little, but she's my friend, so I'm happy."

She rolled her eyes at that idea Sam was Cat's friend. She put that off to the side for a moment to ask what she felt was the more important question, "Why haven't you sung with André or worked with Tori? They couldn't have gotten you in the business?"

The older girl looked away and towards the floor. "No… I haven't really asked either. I guess they accepted that I was happy doing this."

Jade frowned in disapproval of hearing that Tori and André and maybe Beck had not took Cat with them on their way to the top while Cat was stuck her playing babysitter with Sam. She added that to her list of things to do when she got home after saving Freddie, herself, their relationship and let things go with Beck: bring Cat with her to the top and away from having to live with psycho bitch.

However, she decided to try to play along, "Okay… well, whatever makes you happy, I'm just…"

"What?"

She tilted her head slightly to the side and asked with mild disbelief as she realized the moment later she couldn't play along, "Living with Sam? It's Sam."

Cat giggled and replied, "People change… Sam changed. She's… my friend."

The younger girl dryly answered in disbelief, "Right… she's your friend… the girl that made Freddie's life a living Hell for years and isn't one bit sorry about it."

The babysitter looked away for a moment and answer with a soft voice, "People change… you changed and that's why you're here."

Jade sucked in a sharp breath as Cat was able to get her right in the throat whether it was intentional or not and unfortunately was quite correct. She tried to form some kind of retort, but the front door swung open and the familiar and resented figure to Jade happily stepped inside with groceries in her arms and cheerfully shouted, "Hey little red! Mama's home!"

Cat stood up and raised her right pointer finger to her mouth to quickly shush the rambunctious dirty blonde, "Shhh!"

The dirty blonde actually put on an embarrassed expression being admonished by the shorter girl. She quickly apologized as she sucked in a breath through her clenched teeth, "Sorry."

Jade put on an even expression as she stood up and Sam walked deeper inside with a smile on her face. Her smile quickly left her face at seeing the past Jade in the living room. She asked with a mixture of curiosity and concern, "Wow, ah… Jade?"

The pale teenager cleared her throat and answered with an even expression, "No, I'm her cousin Jessica."

Cat looked over her left shoulder and gave her a curious expression.

Jade spared her a quick glance trying to let her know that she didn't want the young woman know the truth.

The dirty blonde sat the paper grocery bags down next to the floor, closed the door behind her and softly laugh, "Wow, the resemblance is—"

Jade pushed down the disgust she felt at the blonde as she interrupted, "I know."

Sam pursed her lips as she looked to Jade with a perplexed expression then looked to Cat for an explanation.

The shorter girl eagerly answered with a nervous laugh, "Oh ah… she's Jade's cousin and she just wanted to stop by and say hey."

Sam smirked with a raised eyebrow as she questioned, "Really? Cat, you've been through this: you can't lie."

The former actress frowned in disappointment at being called out by the dirty blonde.

Sam looked to the teenager and asked with concern and a hint of threat in her voice, "So who are you? The truth this time."

Jade ignored the possibility that Sam was asking only out of concern for the childlike young woman and bowed her head ever so slightly and glared at the older girl. "Fine, you want to know?"

Sam took a step forward and cocked her head to the side as she answered what she saw as a challenge, "Yeah, I do. So who are you?"

Jade narrowed her eyes and whispered out with a cold tone, "I'm Jade West from the year two thousand twelve you janking she-demon."

Sam actually blinked in shock from hearing the vitriol in the girl's voice. She found her voice a few moments later and muttered out still dumbfounded, "What the chizz?"

Jade smirked and shook her head as she kept a cold stare on Sam. "Oh, it's me Sam. The one that kicked your ass and made you unpretty for a while."

Sam looked to Cat for confirmation and the shorter girl gave a slight nod of her head. "It's true." The dirty blonde studied her friend and realized that she at least believed it even if it wasn't true.

"What the chizz?"

Jade softly laughed in a mocking tone, "I think I got snatched by an angel, so I could see how screwed up my life became."

Sam slightly frowned as she instantly understood. She glanced over to Cat and commented with an uncomfortable tone, "I'm guessing Mitch isn't the one that dropped you here?"

Jade quickly agreed with a curt tone, "I guess not. I don't see him doing me any favors since he's Carly's angel, but you believe Cat?"

The former web-hostess met the teenager's eyes and instantly replied, "Of course I believe her; she's my friend and I seriously doubt you could fool her if you weren't Jade." Sam looked down and shook her head as she muttered out, "You could certainly use a favor, so I guess that's why you're here."

The green streaked hair teenager crossed her arms under her chest and glared at her again. The idea that somehow they had become friends was still something she was having trouble wrapping her head around, but she didn't worry about it at the moment as she was more concerned about the insult hurled in her direction. She snorted out, "_You're_ judging _me_? Oh that's rich."

The older girl shook her head and answered with a sympathetic tone, "No… I'm just sorry that you gave up all your friends for fame." She shrugged a shoulder. "I'm sorry that you became what you always thought I was: a pathetic loser."

Jade snorted out a breath as she clenched her jaw tightly for a few moments then responded with a surprisingly calm voice, "I'd find that insulting if I didn't agree with you." She shivered the next moment and tightened her arms around herself. "Chizz, now that's janked up: agreeing with you on something."

Sam smirked as she cocked her head to the side and softly laughed, "Well, mama's usually right."

Jade growled out, "I'm the wrong person to try to feed that bullchizz to."

Sam instantly lost her confident look and replaced it with a remorseful expression and whispered out, "Sorry."

The teenager's brow instantly knotted up at hearing the apology and seeing the regretful expression. "I've already seen a few strange things today, but believing you changed into something better than something I'd scrap off my boot, now that's unbelievable."

Sam blew out a breath and put on what she hoped was a friendly and disarming expression then took another step closer to the girls. "People change Jade. I changed, Carly changed, Freddie changed, you changed—will change—" She motioned to Cat and awkwardly continued, "Cat… well Cat's still Cat."

Jade turned her head at seeing the redhead giggled at the comment. She looked back to the blonde as she finished, "Look, things happened that changed us all…" She looked down and regretfully stated, "My sins finally caught up with me too and I really did pay for them. My grades were worthless so I couldn't get into college and I lost Carly and Brad."

The Hollywood Arts student titled her head to the side and sarcastically replied, "My heart bleeds for you… but not nearly as often as all the times you made Freddie bleed." She straightened her head and finished with a cold tone, "If anyone is suffering it's Cat for having to live with you. When I get back and I become famous—and _I will_ without becoming all janked up, she'll be living with me and Freddie instead of having to put up with you."

The dirty blonde took a sharp breath and Jade saw actual fear in the girl's eyes.

Cat raised a hand to rest on Jade's right arm and softly admonished, "Jade, please don't."

Jade looked to her with a curious expression.

The shorter young woman whispered out in an almost pleading tone, "She's my friend. I don't want her to be alone."

The teenager let out a tired breath at seeing her pleading eyes. "Cat, you don't have to depend on her. You don't have to live here having to babysit to make ends meet. You'll be able to do anything you want. I'll get you a record contract. I'll get you into acting—"

"I'm happy rooming with Sam… I don't want to lose my friend. Please, please don't change that."

Jade slumped her shoulders as she looked at the beseeching young woman. She thought that Cat was about to burst into tears at any moment with the sad expression on the woman's face. She finally broke eye contact and gave Sam a harsh glare. "I don't give a damn about you Sam and I think you deserve everything you get, but Cat's my friend, so… I won't do anything to interfere with you two when I catch up to when you're about to be roommates, but…"

Sam slightly frowned and narrowed her gaze on the younger girl. "But what?"

Jade took a sharp breath then hissed out, "If you dare try to hurt her in anyway, I—"

Sam quickly raised her right hand and interrupted with an almost tired tone, "I've already heard this speech from Dusty and he got his point across years ago."

The dark brunette straightened her posture and gave her a surprised expression for a few moments until she realized that Dusty of all people would put Sam on notice when it came to Cat. "So you finally wised up that you can't push everyone around?"

Sam cleared her throat and looked away for a moment. She mumbled out with a soft roll of her eyes, "He pointed out that a nephilim beats a cambion…"

Jade's brow knotted up. "Okay…" she spoke in manner that indicated that she had no idea what Sam could be talking about. She eyed Sam for a few more seconds until she looked back to her friend and stated, "I need to get going. I have a few more stops to make."

Cat regretfully replied, "Okay." She quickly pulled her friend into a hug and Jade returned it without hesitation. The pair released each other and Jade gave her one last smile. She started on her way and walked past the blonde and opened the apartment door to head out, but stopped just passed the threshold with Sam calling out her name, "Jade?"

Jade stopped and looked over her right shoulder. "What?"

Sam's face fell and gave her a remorseful expression, "I'm truly sorry Jade… I'm sorry for everything."

The dark brunette shut her mouth and slightly narrowed her eyes as she didn't know how to take that statement. She studied Sam's face for a few moments trying to assess her expression as she really didn't have any experience to judge the girl's body language.

The pale teenager slightly bowed her head to break eye contact only for a brief moment then back up to respond, "Jade's having her concert on Tuesday and why don't Cat and you come? I'll get you backstage."

Cat whispered out excitedly as to not wake up the baby, "Oh that'll be fun. It'll be just like the music awards."

Sam glanced to her friend then back at Jade with a cautious expression. "I doubt she'll want to see me. Your opinion of me hasn't exactly changed over the years."

The pale teenager smirked, "Maybe not, but I want you there… well Cat actually."

"Why?"

Jade chuckled and cryptically answered, "I have my reasons." She looked passed the blonde and called out, "See ya Cat."

Cat eagerly waved as her old friend departed.

Sam closed the door when Jade was out of sight and blew out a relieved breath through her mouth. She met her friend's eyes and stated with a slightly annoyed voice, "You got to give Dusty a call and figure out what is going on… if he'll pick up the phone. Where's your phone?"

* * *

Author's Note: I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and it was eye opening or eye rolling. Okay, I'm jumping the gun with Sam & Cat before even the pilot has aired, but oh well.

Special Guest Star Jennette McCurdy


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note: Hello everyone, I hope you've had a good week. New episode of Victorious this Saturday and of course it will be major Bade. I'll be watching of course even if I'm obviously not a huge Bade fan.

Fanfic-Reader-88: Thanks for reviewing and summing up the points I was hitting in the story. I hope you enjoy this next chapter.

Twilight Warrior 627: I'm glad you're intrigued and still reading. Mason? Let the story tell itself.

Jeremy Shane: Here you go, thanks for reviewing.

PD31: Yeah, she's gone oh paranoid and hopefully more will become clear as present Jade finds out more. Whether I will go in deeper for Sam/Cat, is hard to say. I don't want to give Dan any ideas on how to justify his new show :P

We'll get to Freddie at some point.

No real warnings for this chapter, but of course for future ones. Hope you enjoy.

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Chapter 7

Sunday, January 29, 2017

Jade blew out a breath with her head slightly tilted to her right side as she rested her right hand on top of the steering wheel and her left elbow braced against the top of the door while waiting for the light to change.

She really didn't have any other stop for the day other than checking on her mother. André was on tour and so was Robbie, so she couldn't speak to them and she didn't know where Freddie lived. She thought about somehow contacting Carly, but her irritation with Sam blinded her into not simply asking if she had a way to contact Freddie's ex.

Her mind drifted back to her mother and as wrong as it might have sounded, she hoped that her mother was still in her alcohol induced sleep and wouldn't have to worry about explaining the situation to her since she assumed the woman might completely freak out about the news of a time traveling daughter. She would have actually completely skipped thinking about going back if it wasn't for the fact that she worried that her mother would wake up and realize that her phone and computer along with of course the Charger were gone then have enough cohesion to report that her car was stolen. She figured that they could probably just track her either through the computer or phone.

She mulled over that possible headache, but another part of her mind quickly thought of a way to put that off for a few more hours by going back to see Tori and Beck to find out their side of the story and make sure she hadn't missed anything with just Cat's recollection of what happened.

However before she could internally debate the matter, she glanced over and noticed that passed the intersection and on her left was the theater that she put on 'Well Wishes' about a year ago. Her brow furled in surprise as she read the sign: 'An Angel on My Shoulder' Written and Directed by Ava Cohen.

Once the light changed, she passed through the intersection and found a parking spot on the opposite side of the street to the theater. She continued to wear a curious expression as she parked the car and turned off the ignition. She exited the vehicle and locked the door before shutting it behind her then looked both ways before quickly crossing the street to theater.

Jade hesitantly approached the entrance and took a moment to find that the door was slightly wedge open at the bottom to prevent it from closing all the way. She opened the glass door and slipped inside, but saw no one around, but could hear voices further into the building. She cautiously made her way through the lobby and towards the theater. She made her way down the dark hallway and to the left side of the theater.

She slipped through the left entrance and immediately noticed a group of high schoolers being directed by a short, dark brunette young woman in her late teens to early twenties. It took her a moment for the girl to turn enough for Jade to catch at least her profile and realize that she was Ava, the quiet student that was in several of Sikowitz's class with her over the years and was never called on because she was one of the background students that the eccentric teacher never really paid attention and Sinjin's girlfriend. Her hair was darker than when it was in high school and seemed to be in good cheer as she directed the teenagers in their various positions.

Jade quietly walked up the side of the auditorium and walked up to have a seat in the back row (which she failed to remember was the same seat the Josh Peck had sat when he saw her opening performance). She watched as Ava patiently directed the mid-to-late teenagers into their positions in what looked like a very early rehearsal.

The group practiced their scenes with the other teenagers having seats in the first two rows watching and some taking notes for about fifteen to twenty minutes until Ava finally noticed Jade sitting in the top row.

The shorter girl laughed out as she pointed out, "I think you'd learn something sitting with the rest of the class."

Jade's mouth dropped open and hesitated for a moment to come up with an answer to the older girl. She finally muttered out, "Oh, I'm not part of the class; I was just watching."

Ava slightly frowned then walked up the steps to get a closer look at the girl then sucked in a sharp breath at getting a good look at Jade. "Wow…"

Jade glanced down at herself as for a few minutes she forgot the kind of reaction she should have expected.

The shorter young woman laughed out apologetically, "I'm sorry, you look just like an old friend of mine."

The younger girl cracked a smile and answered with an upbeat tone, "Oh, I'm Jade's cousin… Jessica."

She raised her eyebrows and a corner of her mouth as she asked, "Oh?"

Jade slightly tilted her head to the side and answered, "Yeah, that's why we look so much alike."

Ava slightly bowed her head then softly laughed out, "Okay, but you really look like her when we went to Hollywood Arts together."

Jade smirked and shrugged her left shoulder. "I guess she kind of inspired me."

She put on a soft smile and gave her an accepting nod. "Well you got the look down… about the rest…" Ava trailed off as she glanced away from the teenager. She looked over her shoulder to the class and instructed them, "Okay, keep up the rehearsals; I need a few minutes."

The students accepted her instruction and turned back to mill about to practice their parts.

Ava turned back to Jade then scooted passed her and had a seat on Jade's right side. She smiled to the teenager and asked, "So what are you doing here?"

The dark brunette teenager cracked an even smile as she casually answered, "I was driving by and saw the sign. I recognized the name… from her yearbook, so I thought I'd stop by. I was surprised that anyone was here."

The fellow dark brunette softly shook her head and commented with a sympathetic tone, "Well, they need a lot of practice."

The pale girl motioned to the stage. "So you got your own play?"

The shorter young woman proudly smiled as she answered, "Yeah, kind of. It's something I'm doing with Hollywood Arts High School. It's the school me and your cousin went to. I'm having the kids that are usually overlooked for parts get a chance to act. I was always looked over for parts, but your cousin gave me a chance to really shine and let people see that I could act. I want to give that same chance to all the kids that are overlooked."

Jade softly laughed, "Yeah, but there's a reason why they're overlooked: most of them can't act, you while could steal a show."

Ava let out a soft laugh as she answered, "Some of them can't act that's true, but some just need the practice and the chance to shine. I mean back in high school even Jade was overlooked for Tori—she's a successful actress now, and no one doubted Jade's acting ability, but she had to take a backseat to Tori."

Jade slightly frowned from the girl pointing out the obvious favoritism she had to endure from the teachers for Tori.

"…so I think they need a chance without always being pushed aside."

Jade gave a soft smile as she pushed down her annoyance at how the faculty treated her in comparison to Tori.

"So Jessica, are you interested in acting? I'm guessing it wasn't just that you happen to recognize a name and you said that your cousin inspired you which make me think…"

"Oh? Ah… a little, but I enjoy writing too."

"So you really are taking after your cousin?"

She shrugged her left leather jacket covered shoulder. "I guess I do."

Ava asked with mild curiosity, "Have you seen her? I heard that she's back in town after her tour."

"Yeah she is… actually I'm visiting her for the next few days since she got back."

Ava smirked as she commented, "That's nice. I haven't seen Jade in a while—other than on TV and online I mean." Her voice dropped to a sad tone, "We haven't talked in a while."

Jade smiled as an idea came to her mind. "Would you like to see her?"

She was surprised that Ava smiled so brightly as she answered, "Yes I would. I'd like to see how she's really doing and not what the rags are saying about her."

"Okay. You know that she's going to have a performance on Tuesday? It's actually the last show of her tour. Would you like to come?"

Ava slightly dropped her mouth open and took a moment to process what the teenager had asked. She finally found her voice and answered with a slight nod and laugh, "Yeah, it's at the Boomerang Theater?"

Jade nodded in acknowledgement.

Ava continued with a soft laugh. "I remember that night she performed the first night. She was fantastic… she looked ridiculous with that pink hair and funny metal thing on her head and like a Lady Gaga rip-off, but blew everyone away."

An awkward smile formed on the girl's face at the comment as she had no idea what the older girl meant by being a Lady Gaga rip-off since she had not seen the performance.

Ava smiled brighter as she continued, "Hey, I just thought of something; I'll be done with them in about twenty minutes and you're welcome to stay and watch, so do you want to go out for a late lunch? If you don't mind, I'd like to know how Jade's been doing." Her happy expression fell more into an awkward one as she continued, "We didn't exactly leave off on the best of terms."

"Okay…" Jade smirked as she teased, "…but you'll have to fill me in on some things she won't tell me about her time in Hollywood Arts and you pay for my coffee since I've already ate."

Ava let out a soft giggle. "Deal… and you sound just like your cousin. She had to have her coffee." She glanced back to the stage and see that some of the teenagers were getting restless and listless. "If you'll excuse me, I need to whip some of them back on task."

Jade noticed that some of the teenager guys were larger than the young woman then commented, "You think some of those guys are going to listen to you? You're not exactly the most intimidating thing."

Ava smirked as she answered, "Maybe not, but they know they'll have to deal with my boyfriend if they try anything stupid."

Jade's brow instantly knotted and was about to ask about Sinjin in how he could be intimidating to anyone, but the older girl was already out of her seat and walking passed her to head down to the stage.

The out of time West sat patiently and watched as Ava was able to 'whip' them back on task with their rehearsals. She was quite impressed with Ava's skills of managing some of the students' egos and others being kind of shy and nervous about performing as the teenagers rehearsed. She thought that her schoolmate's future self could teach the teachers at HA a few things and wondered if she had gone to college and majored in theater.

Ava finally wrapped up the day's rehearsals and the teenagers quickly made their way out and planning to meet after school at Hollywood Arts for the next rehearsal. Jade walked down to the steps to the floor to meet up with Ava as the last student exited the house and into the lobby. The shorter girl led Jade out into the lobby then out to the sidewalk.

Jade was on Ava's right side as she turned to the shorter girl and curiously asked, "Do you want me to follow you or are you driving?"

The nearly equally dark brunette softly laughed, "Oh, I didn't drive. I'm waiting for my bo—"

Ava suddenly stopped and grinned as she looked over Jade's right shoulder. She walked past the teenager as a black 1967 Chevrolet Impala pulled up to the curb. Jade wore a curious expression as the vehicle stopped then the driver's side door opened and saw the familiar face of one Southern teenager in his hooded leather jacket, navy Henley and medium shade blue jeans who was now in his early twenties step out onto the sidewalk.

Ava wrapped her arms around the back of his neck and pulled him slightly down to give him a quick kiss. He wrapped his arms around to the small of her back and slightly lifted the girl off of her feet as he returned the kiss then set her back on her feet. Ava slightly pulled back and remained in his left arm with his right hand resting on her left hip as she turned to look to Jade with a smile. She motioned her head to him and patted his chest with her left hand as she commented, "This is my boyfriend Dustin."

Jade blinked and shifted her focus between them several times. She cleared her voice after several seconds of processing that Ava and Dusty were a couple and commented, "Hi."

Dusty looked back at her with a mixture of surprise and confusion. He asked in tone that Jade immediately noticed that his Southern accent was far less noticeable than her time Dusty, "Jade?"

Ava laughed and answered, "I thought the same thing, but it's not her. She's Jade's cousin, Jessica."

He answered with a shy and awkward tone as he kept his focus on the dark brunette, "Ah… sweetie, she's Jade."

Jade suddenly felt a sense of overwhelming worry at Dusty not believing the cover story despite the fact on how willing she was willing to tell the rest.

Dusty pulled away from her to take another step closer to Jade. He blinked as he looked the pale brunette up and down. "You're you, but not _now_ you."

Ava's brow furled as she looked to her boyfriend with a confused expression.

Jade slightly dropped her mouth slightly open as she met his eyes. After several attempts to vocalize some kind of excuse, she finally admitted with a tired voice as she met his piercing stare, "I'm Jade."

The Southern young man slightly narrowed his eyes on her as he asked, "_When_ are you from?"

She didn't even think for the moment on how he could know such a thing by looking at her and just answered, "Two thousand twelve."

Dusty slightly frowned as he questioned with a concerned voice, "How did you get here?"

"I don't know, but I have an idea. Do you remember five years ago when I told Carly about an angel that helped Fre—"

Ava's brow knotted then looked to Dusty to asked with evident confusion filling her voice as she interrupted, "Wait a second and let me catch up. She's really Jade?"

Dusty cleared his throat then over his right shoulder to meet Ava's eyes and patiently answered, "Yes sweetie she's Jade, past Jade."

Ava took a step forward to stand beside Dusty so she could look to Jade then back to her boyfriend. "She's Jade… _from the past?_"

The taller young adult nodded his head and reiterated, "Yes, she's Jade from the past."

Ava blinked a few times as her boyfriend gave her a comforting smile. She snorted out a sharp breath through her nose then back to Jade. "Okay… you're Jade. Why didn't you tell me?"

Jade blew out a breath through her nose and tilted her head slightly to her right then muttered out, "How can I tell you that? I somehow traveled through time to get here. I'm still trying to wrap my head around everyone else believing me."

Ava looked to her with an almost lost expression as she asked, "Everyone else?"

"I've seen Tori and Beck and I just came from seeing Cat and Sam." She looked to the Southern young man and continued with a slightly annoyed tone, "Why would you let Cat live with Sam anyway?"

Dusty immediately frowned and was about to answer when Ava raised a hand and interrupted by speaking to Jade, "_No_, don't get him started or he won't stop. Cat made her choice and there isn't a thing we can do to change her mind. Her brother wanted her to live with him, but she didn't want to burden him or Dustin and she says she's happy with Sam when I offered her to be my roommate."

Dusty slightly frowned and looked away as Jade turned her attention to the former Carolinian. The teenager shook her head then asked, "How did you know I wasn't… today's Jade or I wasn't just some impersonator?"

Ava glanced to her boyfriend and directing an unspoken question towards him with her eyes and shifting brow. He raised his hand in defense as he quickly answered, "Whoa, don't look at me, I didn't do it. I told you, time travel is more trouble than it's worth."

Jade shook her head in confusion then looked to Ava and asked with an obvious disbelief and rapidly patient losing voice, "Wait, why would you think he did it? How could he do it?"

The male of the three slightly parted his mouth to hesitantly respond then paused to purse his lips. He finally asked, "When in twenty twelve are you from?"

Jade slightly frowned at the Southern teenager was apparently dodging her question, but ignored it for the moment to answer, "January, actually five years to the day. After the earthquake when we were at Mister Gibbon's house, I left and checked on my stepbrother then I went home and I fell asleep watching a movie with Freddie. I woke up a few hours ago in my bed here."

Ava blew out a soft breath and looked to her boyfriend with sympathetic expression. "So she wouldn't know _yet_."

Dusty shook his head. "Nope… she wouldn't."

"Know what?" Jade interrupted the couple with a sharp tone.

The couple looked back to the pale teenager with mutual caught expressions.

Jade crossed her arms in front of her and frowned deeper. "Dusty, know what?"

"Okay, but I'm not telling you on an open street."

Jade threw her head back and blew out an irritated breath. "Fine…" She dropped her head to meet Dusty's eyes and continued, "Ava was taking me to lunch, so you can explain it to me then, right?"

Dusty gave an acknowledging nod as he answered, "Sounds good… if you believe me." He motioned to the Impala and offered, "Ladies, your chariot awaits."

Jade smirked as she answered with a teasing voice, "I have my own ride." She pointed across the street.

Dusty and Ava followed her finger to the black Charger parked on the other side of the street. The young man let out a soft chuckle, "I haven't seen that in a _long_ time."

Jade raised her right eyebrow and dryly commented, "Figures, I found it under a tarp in the garage and it gave me some trouble in starting, but it's running fine."

"That's one good thing I suppose: she's still in one piece and not sold off."

"Yeah." Jade curiously asked while looking at the Impala, "Speaking of cars, what happened to your Mustang?"

Dusty wrapped his left arm around Ava's shoulders as he answered with a soft smile, "Oh? My dad gave me the Impala as a graduation present and I let him have the Mustang. It was a nice little trade."

Ava softly patted Dusty on his abdomen and commented, "How about lunch now? I'm starving."

* * *

Author's Note: Okay, it looks like the ones never really cared that could succeed and did anyone see that pair coming? I hope you enjoyed and review at your convenience. I hit only about 38,000 words so far for this Nano, but with all the other writing, that went past 60,000 words, I feel accomplished.


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note: I hope everyone has had a good week and that they will enjoy this next chapter. I'm sorry that it has taken me long to get this out, but I've been sick over the last week and haven't been able to really write at all. I'm finally getting better, so to celebrate, a new chapter. Hopefully the next one will be out by Sunday. Other things I forgot to mention in my last update to 'We Love Each Other', the outfit Jade is wearing in 'Cell Blocked' when the lost little girl shows up, is the outfit she's wearing at Freddie's birthday party except she's wearing his blue shirt instead of the red one from the episode.

Twilight: Actually the only one that recognized her other than Dusty was Beck and that was because he knew what Jessica looked like from the time he went to Thanksgiving with her (well, according to TheSlap); everyone else was buying the cover story other than Jade just never trying to lie to Cat.

Guest: Dusty's 'ESP' should become quite clear on how it works within this chapter and no, he still doesn't care much for Sam.

Jeremy: Thanks and here's another.

Fanfic-Reader-88: If you have keen eye over the first and second seasons of Victorious, Ava is one of the 'shruggers'. The reason I had her leave the class in 'WLEO' is that I haven't seen her at all in the new season. The thing is, Ava didn't like being overlooked by Sikowitz just like Jade. I'll explore that aspect more in 'WLEO'.

There's a reason why Dusty could instantly know the difference and it will be clear in this chapter.

green aura: For sake of brevity for the reader, I have PMed green to respond to the comments, but I wanted to let you know I do read all reviews and try to respond to them.

Also, if anyone knows the background actress that plays who I'm calling Ava, please let me know. I would love to give her screen credit.

Onward to the story.

* * *

Chapter 8

Jet Brew Coffee Shop  
7055 Sunset Blvd.  
Los Angeles, CA

Jade had a seat on one side of medium sized out-of-the-way table as she rested her right hand on top of the lid of her coffee and watched the couple sitting on the other side of the table or more specifically Dusty. Ava was smiling as she ate on her chicken wrap while Dusty had his left arm draped over the top of the backrest of Ava's chair and wore a ghost of a smile while watching the young woman and occasionally sipping on his hot chocolate.

The amateur actress was trying to wrap her head around the fact that she was watching Dusty look at the other dark brunette as she had caught him many times directing that silent affection towards Cat. She let her curiosity get to her and simply asked, "I know this sounds stupid since you've already told me and there are more important things to talk about, but if you don't mind me asking again… you two are really together? As in boyfriend and girlfriend?"

Dusty chuckled as he bowed his head and Ava quickly wiped a corner of her mouth off with a finger and sat her wrap down so she could answer with a bright smile, "Yes, we are and we're quite happy."

Jade darted her eyes back and forth between the pair and cautiously asked, "So you and Sinjin obviously didn't work out?"

Ava's brow furled for a second then she realized what the pale teenager meant as apparently she hadn't heard or thought about that name in a while. She slightly shook her head and gave a small smile as she answered softly, "No, we didn't work out."

She started, "I'm sorry it didn—" then glanced to Dusty who wore a surprisingly innocent expression. "Never mind."

Ava smiled and reassured the teenager, "It's okay Jade. That's what you're suppose to say when you find out your friend isn't with her boyfriend anymore."

"Yeah, but…" she started and looked to Dusty.

Dusty smirked back at the pale actress and let out a soft chuckled, "It's fine Jade."

She slightly bowed her head and answered with a diplomatic tone, "Okay, but…"

Dusty smirked as he asked, "What?"

She glanced between the couple then asked with a soft laugh, "You two? I just never thought of the possibility of you two. I don't really know how close you two actually are at Hollywood Arts. He still calls you Cohen and you seem quite happy with Sinjin where I'm from."

Ava softly laughed and rested her head on Dusty's left shoulder, "True, but did you ever picture yourself being with the Freddie 'iCarly' Benson when we all met up at the workshop that day? Life has a way of changing in ways you could never expect."

Jade looked down at her coffee and let a small smile play on her face. She thought on those words and she honestly couldn't say yes, but was grateful that it did happen despite all the hardship. She looked up to meet the fellow brunette's eyes and answered softly, "No, getting with Freddie was the last thing on my mind when I met him."

She looked up at the couple and finished with somber tone, "I'm seeing since I've been here that things changing are an understatement."

Dusty pulled his arm from behind Ava and she lifted her head off of his shoulder so he could lean forward and rests his elbows on the table. He blew out a breath through his lips and replied, "Yeah, but the question is 'Why are you seeing it?' Why are you here in the first place?"

Jade took a quick sip of her coffee, averting her eyes from the Southern teenager. She licked her lips to savor the flavor of the coffee before recounting the prevailing idea, "The only guess we have is the angel that healed my grandfather, Cat's brother, André's grandmother, that healed Freddie… She's done something like this for Freddie before and I guess to show me how things are going to turn out and do something about it. I found out everyone else knows about her from Carly when I rubbed it in her face, so they don't think I'm crazy for bringing it up. Beck believes Carly and Tori trusts Beck while Cat wholeheartedly believes in angels."

Ava gave her a curious expression as she asked, "Why are you guessing? Anna didn't explain to you what's going on? She didn't tell you the point?"

"No she didn't. No one has shown up and explained anything. I even prayed to her to see if she'd show up, but she didn't." Jade rolled her eyes and mumbled, "I wouldn't know her if I saw her anyway."

Ava leaned forward to whisper, "So that's why you didn't understand what I meant with Dustin: you've never seen Anna."

Jade raised her pierced eyebrow and asked slowly, "What does knowing what Anna looks like have anything to do with you thinking somehow Dusty was behind this?" She turned her attention to Dusty and finished, "Are you going to tell me what you wouldn't out on the street?"

Dusty looked to Ava for a moment who gave him a supportive nod then looked back to Jade. He grinned as he leaned a little more forward which signaled for Jade to do the same. He whispered in a conspiratorial manner, "Anna is my mom." Ava picked up, "And that's why I thought he could have done it."

Jade blinked and her brow furled for a moment then she let out of soft laugh as she leaned back in her seat. Dusty did likewise as he wore a soft smirk.

The younger dark brunette nodded as she continued to let out a soft laugh, "Okay, okay, that's cute. Good little joke you two; you got me, but this is serious…" She blew out relieving breath then continued in a more serious tone, "I'm stuck five years in the future… a very chizzy future from what I've seen."

Ava whispered with a sincere tone, "For some of us it's not chizzy… but Anna really is his mom."

Jade raised her pierced eyebrow and stated with a hint of patronizing tone as the joke instantly wore thin, "Ava, Anna is an angel or that's what Freddie thinks."

The formerly Carolinian softly smiled as he answered, "I'm quite well aware of that fact."

Jade slightly bowed her head down and narrowed her eyes on Ava and retorted with a slightly mocking tone, "And yet you're saying he's the child of an angel? Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds? Or that you've taken the joke too far?"

Dusty titled his head to the right and calmly countered, "Sam and Melanie are children of a demon. There's a full blown practicing witch in Seattle that nearly set Freddie on fire one time and there's another one with a continuing show in Vegas that oh Megan Parker rediscovered years ago. I told you, there are a lot of strange things out there. It's not my fault that you're so skeptical."

Jade frowned as was quickly becoming irritated with the pair. She whispered with an impatient tone, "This is absurd; angels can't have children…" She slightly nodded her head as she finished, "…they're _angels_… which I didn't even really believe existed until just a little over a month ago."

Dusty sat up straight in his seat and smirked as he calmly replied, "Genesis six four: There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown… in my case it was a daughter of God."

Jade tilted her head slightly to the side as she retorted with clearly impatient and annoyed tone, "Okay, I didn't say anything when you went on about all the nonsense you told Carly about all those fantasy creatures you think are real. I respected your beliefs, but I think you've lost it in the last five years and took Ava along with you in your insanity."

Dusty nodded along and casually replied, "Okay, that's a fair reaction to have. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof, but…" He leaned forward again and stare straight into Jade's bluish/green eyes and whispered, "…I will not perform parlor tricks to prove anything, so you either believe us or don't as to why Ava thought I could have pulled you here."

Jade clenched her jaw tight as she studied her friend's eye then retorted, "Fine… send me back then. That'll prove it pretty quickly."

He leaned back in his seat once again and stated with a reserved tone, "Assuming that's in the bag of powers I have in only being half an angel, I've never done the whole time travel thing before and don't really understand _how_ to do it without taking a side trip to Heaven, but if it comes down to it, I will try."

Jade was ready to make some smartass remark, but paused as she saw the worry if not outright fear that formed on Ava's face after Dusty's statement. Her instincts sent mixed signals of whether Ava had become an extraordinary actress, crazy for actually worrying over such nonsense or that they were telling her the truth about Dusty's parentage.

However, something shifted in her thinking when she saw Ava rest a hand on Dusty's left forearm and their eyes met so she could direct her worried expression so he could see it. Dusty softly smiled and patted the top of her hand then gave her a soft kiss on right cheek and whispered into ear in what she assumed were reassuring words.

Jade took another few seconds to gather her wits when she realized that Ava was truly afraid for him in a failed attempt then challenged as another thought came to mind, "Wait, you said your mother was dead."

Dusty turned his attention back to Jade and shook his head. "I never told you or the rest of them that she was dead. I said she was among the angels as in _among the angels_. It was an accurate statement if a little misleading within the context everyone's frame of reference."

The pale girl stared into his eyes for a few seconds trying to assess his statement. She finally shook her head and looked down to the table and let her mind wander with all the implications if he was really telling her the truth. She took a soft breath then stared up to meet they guy's eyes that only hours ago from her point of view threw himself in harm's way to protect her. She cleared her throat and asked, "If… if she's your mother then how do you not know what's going on? She didn't tell you?"

Dusty slightly frowned and glanced down at the table for a moment. Jade felt a twinge of guilt at seeing that her question apparently was bothering him.

He lifted his head and forced a smile, "It doesn't work that way."

The pale girl expected him to continue, but then took a particular interest in his hot chocolate.

Ava wasn't as timid as she answered for her boyfriend, "They don't exactly get to have a normal mother and son relationship."

"I'm sorry… I guess it's not much different as if she was dead."

Dusty looked up with a slight smirk on his face, but she thought it covered a hint of regret as he answered, "She's an instrument of the Lord's unfathomable Will… that takes precedence over everything else, but I know she loves me. That's far more than a lot of children can say about their mothers'."

Jade nodded along and knew the truthfulness of that statement as there were plenty of times she questioned such a thing with her father especially in regards to Ian.

The Southern teenager took a sip from his drink then continued, "There is the possibility that it isn't mom which could mean there's some other reason why you're here."

Jade frowned as she rested her forearms on the table and questioned, "Then if isn't Anna then who?"

"Well… showing people alternate universes and time travel to get people to learn something is usually under the responsibility of a Cherub named Zachariah and he has the angels under him that can carry out those tasks."

"Like Mitch?"

Dusty nodded. "Yeah, Mitch probably answers to him from what he did for Carly years ago. It fits under his purview."

The teenage singer furled her brow and questioned, "So he got someone else to do it than Anna? Or do I get my own angel? Carly gets Mitch, Freddie gets Anna and I get someone else? Wouldn't that just be a distinction without a difference since it's all the same people?"

The young man slightly shook his head. "Not necessarily. My mom doesn't answer to Zachariah, so they might not have the same motivations, but then again they could be as he's just picked up the job from mom for some reason. I'm just conjecturing from what little I know how it works up there. How the Celestial Hierarchy and Heavenly Host interact and who answers to who is a confusing mess."

Jade laughed, "Heaven suffers under a bureaucracy?"

Dusty smirked as he calmly answered, "It may be an oxymoron, but an efficient bureaucracy does work in Heaven and we just don't know all the ends and outs… heck, it works in Hell too."

Jade snorted out a laugh at all the absurdity of the entire mess she found herself in then turned her head to look out in the direction of the window. She remained silent as she looked at the window at the passing traffic and sipping on her coffee. The couple quickly started growing concern with the girl's silence, but individually decided to respect the silence as Ava continued on her wrap while Dusty sipped on his hot chocolate.

The green streaked hair teenager finally whispered out minutes later, "Whoever did this, they've let me see a lot so far… I'm a drug addict."

The couple simultaneously frowned as they looked at their friend from the past with sympathetic expressions.

Jade continued in an almost detached voice, "I found she's taking medication used to treat ADHD and she's taking an antidepressant. I wouldn't be surprised if she's taking other stuff, but I didn't have the chance to really search her bathroom."

Dusty braced his left elbow on the table and rested his forehead in his palm while Ava whispered out in regret, "I'm sorry Jade," at the confirmation that younger Jade had met her older self.

The teenager kept her focus towards the window as she continued, "I lost Freddie… the other Jade said he wasn't the man that I fell in love with, I lost all my friends, my mom's apparently a drunk and I'm a drug addicted musician who's rich and famous, but probably is going to be dead of some overdose any day." She finally turned back to Dusty and whispered out, "You told me everything was going to be okay… _just a few hours ago_, but I'm a mess and alone. Freddie and I didn't make it."

Dusty leaned forward and rested his forearms on the tabletop as he tried to meet her eyes with her bowed head. He blew out a regretful breath then answered with a solemn tone, "You and Freddie have freewill and you chose—both of you will chose to break up with one another. Both of you gave up on each other. You let your anger and hatred and distrust of everyone destroy you. I or no one else could change that when neither had the will to work through the problems."

Jade leaned back in her seat and stared in his eyes for a few seconds. She slightly shook her head as she met his gaze of trying his best to give her comfort with just an expression. She licked her lips then countered, "It really does just come down to our choices doesn't it? Cat said I gave up too, but she thinks I can make everything right and I had all of you to help… so do you think that's true?"

Dusty slightly bowed his head and gave her a somber expression. "It's all up to you whether you want to become the Jade you've met. You chose to stay angry at Beck and not believe him or forgive him. You chose to take that anger out on other people and become distrustful of everyone. You can choose to _not_ do any of that and see how it turns out. Maybe that's the point of you being here… and even if it's not, it doesn't mean you can't take that away from this experience."

The teenager smiled and felt relief from the sinking depressed feeling that had started hanging on her. She whispered out in reply, "That's what Freddie did during his trip. Anna wanted to show him what it would a have been like if he had said yes to Sam in wanting to be with her, but he took the chance to talk to the other me to try to save her relationship with Beck."

Dusty chuckled, "Team Freewill… good for him and that's not a bad idea for you too."

She passed a quick glance to meet each of their eyes then whispered, "Thanks… thanks for sticking by me—me, me not her—"

Dusty was quick to interrupt with his raised left pointer finger, "She pushed us away; we never tried to abandon her." He lowered his finger and bowed his head slightly as he pointed out, "I've tried to keep an eye on her over the years… make sure no… _unearthly_ elements wanted to take advantage of her."

The green streaked girl couldn't help but let a small smile form with her lips. Apparently the teenager never stopped from that first time Freddie asked him to keep an eye on her.

"I wouldn't blame you if you did abandon her if I'm being honest after seeing how she acted towards Tori. I know I could be a gank at times, but that was absurd the way she reacted to a hello. She really seems to hate everyone."

Ava curiously asked, "It's been that bad dealing with her?"

Jade rolled her eyes and turned her head away for a moment then took a sip from her coffee before answering, "She called Cat a 'failed abortion', interrupted calling Trina a bitch, Beck and Freddie are both bastards and dead in her heart; yeah, it's bad."

The former Carolinian whistled out then muttered, "Wow, she has gotten—" His train of thought was interrupted when he felt his phone vibrate in his jacket pocket. "Sorry," he muttered as he pulled it out and saw on the rectangular screen that he missed a few calls. He tapped a few times on the PearPhone then brought it to his ear. "I got some voice messages… one's from Tori…"

Jade asked with a bit of concern, "What's it about?"

He listened for a few seconds then answered, "It's about you and asking if I know what my mom is up to…" He rolled his eyes as he continued relying what Tori wanted, "…she sounds like she's worried that you'll accidentally mess her and Beck up… you've got to love her priorities…"

Jade rolled her eyes, but Ava quickly spoke up, "Hey, let's not start bashing her for that concern. What if Jade says or does something and it unintentional prevents us from getting together?" The older girl looked to Jade with a fretful expression.

Dusty straightened in his seat as he put on a somber expression at that realization of that possibility then quickly replaced it with a stoic one.

Jade cleared her throat as an apprehensive expression formed on her face watching the girl's concerned expression.

The young man continued speaking but with more low key voice, "The next one's from Cat… she's letting me know she talked to you…" He let out a soft chuckle as he finished, "Sam's concerned you might mess them up too… I can hear her in the background and she's starting to rant. God… I forgot how loud that demon spawn could get."

Jade looked down to the table as she suddenly felt that she couldn't take Ava's fearful eyes looking at her. The teenager answered with a soft voice, "Cat begged me not to interfere with that when I get back. I'm not sure I can respect that… I don't want her to have to live with Sam because she didn't make it big. Trina's living with Tori and I saw how big her house is. She should have given Cat a room."

The older brunette questioned, "How do you know she wasn't offered one?"

Jade snapped her head up to meet Ava's eyes.

The shorter young woman continued with a soft smirk, "I wasn't joking when I said she was turning _everyone_ down."

Jade answered with a soft challenge in her voice, "So you're saying I should just let it happen?"

Ava started off with a sympathetic voice, "I'm just suggesting that you should take her wishes into account…" then picked up with a sterner voice, "…and make sure you _don't_ interfere with me and Dustin getting together."

The teenager took a breath as she focused on the smaller young woman's eyes. She saw an intensity she'd never seen with ferocity and a hint of underlining fear. Jade looked down back at her coffee and answered, "I'm going to at least make Cat the offer and I'll leave it up to her, but…" She looked back up to Ava and reassured her, "I promise I'll do my best not to do anything that will mess you two up from getting together."

Ava put on a relieved smile as Dusty joked, "Remember, it's Ava, not her twin Eva. Don't let the appearance fool you." The shorter girl snapped her head to frown at her boyfriend. He smirked in return and innocently finished, "Hey I'm just making sure she gets it right. We have been through this: I know your sister has a thing for me regardless of how many times you tell her to knock it off… which is surprisingly a lot since she still lives in Seattle."

Jade thought that Ava was going to comeback with some smart remark to him, but instantly surprised that the girl nodded along and softly laugh, "Yea… that's my baby sister for you."

Dusty let out a solid laugh as he retorted, "Yeah, baby sister by a whole minute?"

She looked down at the table and her mouth became a thin line as she countered, "Seventy-two seconds to be exact, but that still makes her my baby sister."

"Unless of course after each of you were born and named, they mixed you up at the hospital and you're suppose to be Eva and she's really Ava and born first—"

Ava snapped her head up then grabbed her boyfriend by the collar and interrupted him by pulling him into a kiss.

Jade blinked at the girl's reaction and actually looked away in slight embarrassment until Ava pulled away from Dusty's lips. She instructed him with a narrowed look and softly stern voice, "Stop talking."

He broke out into soft laughter as he met his girlfriend's eyes which quickly caused her to break into a smile. He leaned in and returned the kiss.

Jade would usually find that kind of public affection stomach turning (excluding her and Freddie of course), but she couldn't find the will to admonish the pair that clearly to her had found love with one another and another bit of happiness in this messed up world she had found along with André making it and if she could set aside her still hurt feelings with Beck, she'd be happy that he did find someone even if it was with Tori.

The trio of turned back to their respective food and drinks for the next few minutes in comfortable silence. Jade finished her coffee then pushed away from the table and stood up as she thanked, "Thanks for the coffee and pep talk, but I have to go and check on my mom."

Ava immediately stood up and offered, "We'll go with you."

Jade held up a hand and tried to politely brush her off, "It's okay. I can deal with her."

"No," Ava firmly refuted her then glance to Dusty as she finished, "I think he can help if you said that she's… a drunk. Right?"

Dusty smiled and nodded while answering, "Absolutely, sweetie."

Jade looked to the couple with a perplexed expression and started, "Okay… but—"

Ava interrupted, "I'm not taking no for an answer Jade. We've accepted no from our Jade long enough and I'm not taking it from you."

Jade blew out an annoyed breath as she crossed her arms. She muttered with an irritated filled voice, "This was a lot easier when you were afraid of me."

Ava grinned as she replied with a hint of sarcasm in her voice, "Jade, I was never afraid of you."

The green streaked haired girl raised her pierced eyebrow and softly challenged with a smirk, "You weren't? You weren't one of those girls that were afraid I would have destroyed them socially?"

"I was happily dating Sinjin, how much lower could my social status get? Besides, I'm a hair puller and I would have ripped your hair extensions right out if we got into a fight."

Jade subconsciously reached up to near the top of her hair at the root of her green extension. She motioned towards the door and muttered out, "Fine, if you think you can help then let's go."

Ava smirked as she won the argument to the girl who used to be the scariest girl at Hollywood Arts.

* * *

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter and it wasn't too eye rolling for you. I warned you I was going to take some chances with this story. Oh, it's funny that the coffee shop in real life is a Starbucks, so I should have used a Skybucks from iCarly as it is the parody for it, but in L.A. they have Jet Brew, so I went with that.


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note: Hello my dear readers. I hope you are doing well.

Twilight Warrior 627: Dusty said he gave him a 'love tap' in 'WELO', but in that story, it doesn't mean anymore than his father teaching him how to land an effective punch or just the experience of being in fights.

Also, I went with an explanation for Sam, so I wanted a counterbalance to her.

Challenge King: Thanks and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Green aura: I knew the religious myth and weirdness wouldn't for everyone, so that's the advantage of doing this as a separate story without saying that it is part of the original story. As I pointed out from the start, any event or element from this story doesn't necessarily imply anything on the original story, so any odd thing doesn't affect the integrity of the original story. _Doing this as a separate story protects the integrity of the original story._

The next two chapters will continue to touch on the idea about how P!Jade's choices in the past could mess up other people's relationships. It's strange how out of tragic or just un-wanted events can bring about happy things that wouldn't exist if the bad stuff didn't happen. I'm not saying the Jeddie breakup has a direct link to anything else in regards to the relationships, but what right does Jade have to change anything that destroys other people's happiness? A/D are concerned, Bori is concerned about not actually being together if somehow Jade fixes things, but messes them up. Then there is Cat: instead of being famous, she's stuck rooming with Sam having to make money babysitting. She's quite happy, but to Jade, she sees it as some unfair punishment to the girl. Is it really her place to change it before it happens just because she doesn't approve?

Also, this story isn't my way of telling Jade's story in regards to 'WLEO' or has her development, but just having my fun in regards to a NANOWRIMO. Jade's development has always been more subtle than Freddie's in the original story, but I plan to have further development for her as 'WLEO' continues.

Okay, on with the story.

Rating: M for Adult Content and Language. I gave you fair warning.

* * *

Chapter 9

West Residence

The automatic garage door opened to the West Residence and Jade pulled the Charger into the empty parking spot while Dusty stopped the Impala in the driveway just behind the fellow black car.

The trio unceremoniously exited their respective vehicles and made their way to the door from the garage into the kitchen. Jade led them and was the first one to reach the door, but was far more cautious in entering the home with Ava and Dusty patiently waiting right behind her. The blue eyed teenager took several steps inside and glanced around and saw no one in the kitchen or living room, so she assumed her mother was still asleep. Ava commented as she looked to their right past the stairwell and into the dinning room, "Looks like everything's the same down here as I remember it."

"Yeah, just down here," Jade muttered out then quickly cut through the living room and made her way to the master bedroom with the couple following behind her.

The singer stopped at the open doorway to the bedroom and slightly frowned and bowed her head at seeing her mother still flopped out on her stomach on her bed. She looked over to see a new bottle on the nightstand and saw it was halfway empty indicating to her that her mother had gotten up just long enough to drink herself into another stupor. Jade blew out a soft breath and bowed her head further to palm her forehead.

Ava walked up beside her and wrapped an arm around the younger girl's shoulders which the pale girl immediately looked to her with a muted surprised expression. The shorter girl gave her a sympathetic expression and gave her left shoulder a comforting rub. She whispered to the younger girl, "It's going to be okay Jade."

Jade muttered out, "I've heard that before…"

Ava slightly frowned, but Jade ignored the expression as she turned her head back to the sight and slowly entered the room. Ava remained by her side, but Dusty quickly walked around the girls to make his way to the opposite side of the bed and looked down on the passed out woman. He glanced over her several times and Jade gave him a perplexed expression while trying to figure out what exactly he was doing. He continued to watch her mother as he rattled off in a detached, almost mechanical manner, "Her liver is shot along with both her kidneys. The rest of her organs aren't in much better shape. She has several small tumors that might become malignant later, her hormone balance is completely out of whack and her nervous system is not in all that great a shape either. It looks like she's been poisoning herself for years."

Jade took in a sharp breath as she felt a tight knot in her stomach from hearing such a diagnosis about her mother even if another part of her brain denied that he could possibly know such things. Her mother was apparently slowly killing herself and her future self didn't appear to give one care.

Ava asked with a hopeful tone, "Can you do anything?"

He looked up and gave a hint of a smile to his dark brunette girlfriend.

Jade finally found her voice and questioned with naked fear in her voice trying to childishly deny the possibility, "How do you possibly know that?"

He ignored his old friend from his point of view and leaned over to palm over Mrs. West's forehead with his left hand.

Jade looked to him with a curious expression as he stood there for a few moments then heard a strange, soft hissing sound then her mother took a deep breath and rolled over to her back and settled into what looked like a peaceful rest.

Dusty put on a small smile as he whispered, "There, good as new… she'll get a good night sleep and wake up feeling like a new woman… which she will be physically."

Jade looked to completely dumbfound. "What?"

Ava leaned over slightly and whispered into the taller girl's ear, "He healed her."

She blinked and looked to him completely shocked. She questioned in a loud and disbelieving voice, "You did _what_?"

The young man shrugged his right shoulder and explained, "It's my curse that developed a little after I graduated. When I was at Hollywood Arts, I already had the strength and the durability… so I could have easily beaten Sam, but the other gifts from my mother's Grace took a little longer to develop just like Sam's and Melanie's more blatant demonic powers."

Jade's mouth slightly opened with her jaw slacking and looking to him with wide eyes.

He tightened his lips for a moment and apologetically commented while avoiding her eyes, "I'm sorry Jade; if I had known she was like this, I would have done that sooner for her." He walked around the king size bed and passed his girlfriend and old friend to exit the room.

She turned to look over her right shoulder to see him disappear out of sight then looked to Ava. The shorter girl gave her soft smile and commented with a patient tone, "He broods when he feels guilty. He'll snap out of it in a little bit, don't worry."

The green streaked girl gave a nod of her head and commented, "I remember… I guess that's one habit he never let go." She walked over to her mother and watched over her for a moment then had a seat on the edge of the bed. She saw that her mother looked well, her natural pale coloring had returned and no bags were under her eyes. The teenager leaned down to place a kiss on her mother's forehead and whispered, "I love you."

Jade stood up from her place and looked to the student mentor. She cleared her throat then hesitantly started, "So, I guess I'm not going to have to worry about talking to her right now and try to answer awkward questions, so…" She quickly walked passed the shorter girl and headed out of the room.

Ava raised a curious eyebrow then quickly followed the teenager out as she had already cut through the living room on her way back to the stairs. She followed her friend and caught up with her at the door way to the pale teenager's bedroom.

Jade was already inside and grabbing a few of her left over clothes from the closet then dropped them on the bed. The present day Ava's brow knotted up and asked curiously, "Where are you going?"

The dark brunette stopped and looked up to look at the shorter girl with a slight frowned of confusion.

Ava pointed to the clothes on the bed and figuratively pointed out, "You're taking your clothes, so where are you going?"

The teenager started folding the few shirts as she answered with a forced conversational voice, "I'm going to head back to… 'my house' and make sure she hasn't gotten into any more trouble. I'm going to need something to wear if I'm here for a few days."

The fellow dark brunette stood up straighter and pointed out, "If she's abusing drugs, maybe we should go with you." She motioned over her right shoulder with her head as she finished, "Dustin can heal any damage and actually physically and mentally cure the addiction, at least a little bit of a mess she is would be fixed."

Jade put on a thankful smile then she answered with a skeptic tone with a hint of fear, "I don't think she'll let him get close enough to her to do that. She won't admit she has a problem, besides, as soon as I get back it'll be a mute point because I won't be an addict." The teenage singer continued folding her clothes as she seemed to ignore the girl.

Ava frowned as she watched the younger version of her friend. She turned her attention to the handful of older clothes then back to the teenager to offer, "You need some money for clothes or anything else?"

She slightly shook her head and answered, "Nah, I grabbed some lose money from my mom's wallet and took her bank card."

The future Ava gave a slight nod.

Jade finished the last of her folding then went to her drawer to pull out some undergarments. She looked over her shoulder and casually asked while pulling them out, "Do you know where Carly is? I'd like to talk to her. See what she has to say about everything."

Ava paused for a moment from the out of the blue question then muttered out, "Last time I heard was that she was somewhere in Europe." She shrugged a shoulder and finished, "I think she's in some kind of touring theater production; you'd have to ask Beck 'cause I know they still keep in touch."

Jade cocked her head to the side and dryly commented, "Well talking to her is out of the question. She can just refuse to take a call thinking I'm my older self."

The short girl smirked as she playfully commented, "Well if you find out from Beck where she is, Dustin could always give you a lift so you can talk to her in person."

Jade's brow knotted up and slightly frowned while shoving her undergarments between the folds of the resting clothing and asked for some clarification, "A lift?"

Ava smirked as she commented, "I mean… teleport you to her."

Jade stood up straight and gave her a look that questioned her sanity, "What?"

She smirked as she answered with a playful tone, "Traveling at the speed of thought is in his bag of tricks… we toured all of the Mediterranean the week of our last anniversary." She slightly bowed her head as a small smile formed on her face as it looked to Jade that the older girl was pleasantly getting lost in a memory.

Jade pulled her out of the memory with a soft question, "Okay… he can 'teleport'?"

The fellow brunette looked back up and softly laughed, "I'm not sure why you're so surprised. I'm told that witch in Seattle can do it, I'm told Sam can do it, but I'm not sure how often she does it… and you just saw him heal your mother."

The teenager let out a nervous laugh, "I'll ah… keep that in mind?"

She let out a soft laugh as she answered, "It's okay if you don't want to… the very first time can be… disorienting."

"Disorienting?"

Ava regretfully admitted, "The first time I went with him, I got vertigo for a week."

Jade raised her pierce eyebrow at such a statement. "But you did it a second time?"

The shorter girl smiled while answering, "He's my boyfriend and—"

The green streaked girl subconsciously let a smile slip on her face as she interrupted, "You really love him, don't you?"

Ava softly laughed with a slight blush on her cheeks. "I do…" She took a breath and her tone became quite somber as she continued, "Jade? We are very happy… please, please don't do anything that could mess us up from getting together."

The pale teenager once again saw the fear on the older girl's face of the possibility of losing the guy that she had obviously become quite attached to and loved. She was seeing the aftermath of that happening to her and she could empathize with such a fear.

She whispered in what she hoped was a comforting tone, "I won't… I won't do that. I'll keep my mouth shut through all of it, but do you mind me asking what happened so I know what not to do?"

She tilted her head to the side and commented with a sad tone, "We had our minor disagreements like all couples when we got together, that's a given, but I think the first real cracks started when Sinjin got involved with Sikowitz in making you and Tori go on a date."

Jade's brow knotted. "Sikowitz did what?"

"It was for a play you and Tori were starring in as husband and wife. Sikowitz didn't think it was believable for you to be husband and wife, so he made you go out on a date and if you left before the end of the night, he'd flunk you for the entire semester. He got Sinjin and Burf to spy on you two to make sure you didn't leave early. Sinjin knew how I felt about Sikowitz at that point and how thankful I was to you, but he helped Sikowitz anyway. After that, the disagreements got worst and Dustin was there at times and things just kind of developed where I finally broke up with Sinjin then started dating Dustin."

"What about Cat? I mean he still has a thing for her—" She stopped and cleared her throat to let her clarify, "I mean, you'd have to be blind from where I'm from to not see that he still likes her a lot."

Ava gave a slight nod and answered, "Things happened that finally brought him closure and that he couldn't wait any longer for her to drop her act."

"Act?" she needlessly questioned as she was recalling a statement from the former webmaster.

Ava took a soft breath then answered with a surprisingly calm voice, "Most of Cat's behavior is an act and one that she wouldn't drop and trust him enough to be herself… I don't have that problem. That's why we work: our relationship is built on honesty and love… Cat couldn't do the first part."

Jade pursed her lips as that wasn't the first time she heard that view about her redheaded friend. Cat may have not changed, but Dusty apparently believed some of it was an act and finally gave up the torch he was carrying for her. She nodded her head to at least acknowledge the statement then turned to pick up the rest of her clothes off the bed. She motioned to the door and the girls made their way down the stairs and found Dusty leaning against the kitchen island. Jade noticed that the young man appeared to be deep in thought.

"Hey," she gently called out to him.

"Hey," he answered with a detached voice but didn't turn to look at her.

Jade slightly bowed her head and let him have his way as she remembered that only he could persuade the feeling away.

Ava looked around the kitchen for a scrap piece of paper and either a pen or pencil. She opened a drawer and found a pencil and a sticky notepad in what looked like a drawer where odds and ends were kept. She quickly scribbled down something on the paper then offered it to the pale teenager. "If you need to someplace to stay in the meantime, here's my address and number; you're welcome to stay until you go back."

She politely took the note and answered softly, "Thanks Ava, but I can handle her."

Jade caught Dusty's slight frown and eyed her with a reserved expression.

She smirked and slightly tilted her head to the side and commented, "I know that worried face, but I'll be fine."

He slightly bowed his head and his mouth formed a tight smile. "Old habits die hard."

She gave him a soft smile then sat the clothes down on the kitchen island so she could pull her friend's older counterpart into a hug, but unlike the awkward reaction he had with her a mere few hours ago from her point of view, he had no hesitation in returning the embrace. "Thanks Dusty," she whispered into his right ear. She blinked as she felt a slight stinging in her eyes, signaling to her she was near the point of tears. She cleared her throat to prevent it from choking up and finished, "Thank you for my mom… thank you for everything."

He held her for a few more seconds then gave her a soft pat on the back and whispered, "You're welcome my friend."

Jade pulled away and wiped her eyes before any tears could fall while Dusty gave her a reassuring smile. The actress snorted out a soft laugh then turned to look to Ava. "Well, I got to get back to her before she does something else stupid."

The three made their way to the garage and Jade opened the driver's side door and dropped the clothes in the backseat then looked back to the couple.

Ava asked with a concerned voice, "Are you sure you don't need us to go with you?"

Jade cracked a smile and nodded. "I'll be fine. She wants me around to convince me that I need to dump you all when I get back and she can't afford to alienate me too bad or she'll just be hurting her own plan."

Dusty laughed, "I don't think it's working."

She actually cracked a relieved smile. "No it's not."

The Southern teenager snorted out a soft laugh, but Ava began, "If you change your mind—"

The green streaked girl raised a hand and interrupted, "I'll call."

"Pray," Dusty corrected.

The girl frowned as she questioned, "Pray?"

"Pray to me and I'll hear you… I'll be right there if you need me."

She gave him a questioning look then to Ava for confirmation.

The shorter girl gave a nod of her head. "It comes in handy."

Dusty motioned to the Impala. "I'll back out to let you out."

"Thanks."

The former Carolinian headed for his car while Ava waited beside the teenager.

When Dusty entered his car then started backing it out, Jade looked to Ava with a mixed look of concern and confusion. "Why does he think it's a curse?"

"What?"

"The healing? He said it was a curse. Sounds like a pretty good superpower."

Ava bowed her head for a moment then looked up to her with a sad expression as she whispered out, "He can't heal everyone and there are so many people that could use it. You can't imagine how much it bothers him… I can't fully understand what it's like for him."

Jade looked away and slightly to the garage floor as she took a moment to think on that thought, the ability to heal, but not everyone. She looked up and took a breath. "Take care Ava. I'll see you Tuesday night if I'm not gone by then?"

Ava took a moment to remember what she was talking about then questioned, "Jade's show? Yeah, we'll be there."

"Good… she needs you… I need my friends."

Ava smiled and pulled the girl into a hug. "We'll be there then. Thank you for giving me a chance back in high school. You'll never know how much that meant to me… how much that did for me."

She was caught by surprise the gratitude from the girl just as much as when she showed it back during Halloween. "You're welcome Ava."

The girls pulled apart and Jade saw that Dusty had cleared her path. She stepped into the driver's seat and nodded farewell to Ava as the girl walked out of the garage. She backed the vehicle into the street and tapped the button to close the automatic garage door to close and headed down the road with one last wave to her friends.

Jade West's Residence  
Beverly Park  
Los Angeles, CA  
Sunday, January 29, 2017

Jade had no problem getting back into the gated community as apparently her older self told the security gate to add her to the entry list. As she had passed the security checkpoint, Hank passed her a glance that showed that he didn't appreciate being fooled earlier, but the teenager threw one back refusing to be intimidated by the rent-a-cop and had darted his eyes away in fear.

Hank's possible dislike of her was the least of her worries as she heard some strange noises from the second floor, but more specifically she guessed the master bedroom. Jade's brow knotted as sat her Gears-of-War bag off of her shoulder and folded clothes at the bottom of the stairs then started her way up. As she approached the room, the noises became louder and not just because she was getting closer to the source.

She stopped at the open bedroom door and her mouth dropped open in surprise.

The older Jade was sitting on the edge of her bed still wearing her black safety pinned tank top, but her bare legs were dangling off the edge with her jeans thrown on the floor with a pair of black, silk lace very short boyshorts panties lying next to them. She was not alone however as a young man with sandy hair around the musician's age was on his knees and his face pushed into her crotch with his hands resting on the top of her bare thighs.

Her right fingerless gloved hand was on the back of his head and her fingers running through his hair with her nails digging into his skin. Her head was tilted backwards and she would be staring up at the ceiling if she had her eyes open with her other hand gripping her own hair to the top of her head. She muttered a few times, "Right there, right there…" A few moments later, she screamed out with sharp breath, "Fuck! Fuck! Fuuuckk!" while her hips bucked into his face.

The young man gripped the older Jade's thighs to hold her still as he continued his ministration through her climax and driving the young musician to higher ecstasy.

Jade blinked once or twice at seeing what she had just walked into seeing then shouted, "What the chizz!"

The man instantly pulled his face away from the musician's crotch and turned to look at who intruded into the pair's activity.

The older West desperately tried to catch her breath and dropped her hand from her head then looked to the intruder at the door. She instantly put on an outraged expression and shouted, "HEY! He was in the middle of something!"

"I don't care!" Jade shouted back in outrage. She turned to the sandy blonde haired young man and pointed to him then the door. "You, out _now_!"

He looked dumbfounded at seeing the dark brunette then looked back to the older Jade for some kind of explanation for the teenager's presence.

The multi-platinum musician stood up, apparently not caring that she was nude from the waist down, and looked to her younger self. Jade glared back to make her know that she wasn't going to budge on the issue.

Older Jade blew out a disgusted breath and answered with a motion of her hand for him to leave, "I'll explain later, you should just go ahead and go. I'll make it up to you later."

The tall, muscular young man didn't look to pleased, but apparently was mollified by the promise of her making it up to her. However, that didn't prevent him from throwing an annoyed expression to the younger girl for being cheated out of a lay.

Jade glared up to the tall young man and hissed out, "You touch me and you'll never find your balls!"

Apparently she was threatening enough for him, so he turned and headed out of the bedroom. "I'll call you later Jade."

"Later," she hissed out in irritation.

Once he was out of the room and Jade looked out the door to make sure he passed her stuff at the bottom of the stairs without touching anything and out the door, Jade snapped her head back towards her older self and shouted while pointing backwards out of the door, "Who was that?!"

The older West shook her head as she retrieved her panties and slid her legs through them and pulled them up. She snorted out with a bit of irritation, "Moose," as she then pulled her hip hugging tight jeans.

"Moose? Moose? What kind of name is _Moose_?"

She zipped her jeans up and buckled her belt as she answered, "He's from Canada."

"When did you start dating anyone from Canada… other than Beck?"

The shorter haired young woman walked over to vanity and picked up a Crystal Waters bottle and took a sip from it then answered, "We're not dating."

Jade rolled her eyes and shook her head in disgust then asked, "You're not dating him? You're just sleeping with him?"

Older Jade took a pill out of the orange medicine bottle that was sitting beside it and quickly took it along with a swig from her water. She looked back to Jade and shrugged her bare shoulder as she answered, "Pretty much. He's pretty good with his tongue, not as good as Freddie use to be, but good enough… if you couldn't tell from my screams."

Jade stomped towards her and pointed a finger right in her face as she shouted, "_Don't you dare_ cheapen what I and Freddie have done by comparing you just wanting an easy janking with some guy named after an animal!"

The older girl slammed the water bottle down on the vanity and frowned at the admonishment then snapped back with a lecturing tone as a subtle way of letting the younger girl know she looked to her as if she was a child, "Oh don't give me all that romantic deep meaning bullshit! Freddie and I started the same way: it was late and we were just two horny teenagers that needed to get off."

Jade took a step backwards and let a hint of fear slip on her face. She whispered out, "Is that how you remember it?"

The older West held a stoic expression and refused to answer.

Jade snorted out then continued, "I'll tell you how I remember it. I remember a night where we realized that he was going to be gone in a week and what we formed would be done and what made it tragic was that we didn't have the words to say how much we came to mean to each other over those three weeks. Anything we could come up to say would sound hollow."

"I remember how he held me as if I was the most precious thing he had ever held. I remember when he saw me for the first time; he didn't gawk at me, but looked at me as if I was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. I remember how he didn't manhandle me or paw at me like I was just a piece of meat, but every touch on me was to make me feel safe and for my pleasure and you're right—he's good with his tongue."

Jade took a calming breath then she made her last points with the intent of beating them over her over self's head, "I remember when it hurt the first time and the look on his face that he was terrified that he had hurt me—that he had really hurt me. I remember that instead of just 'hammering' me as you'd probably expect him to do since you think he was just some horny guy, he stopped and was ready to stop it completely right then and there for me. I'm the one that told him that it was alright, that I just needed a moment and wanted to continue. He rolled over so that I could be on top and set the pace to make sure he couldn't hurt me."

She took a step to look into the distorted image of herself and finished with absolute conviction in her voice, "And when we were done—after he made sure I was quite satisfied, he held me all night long and he's the one I woke up to instead of an empty bed and told me that we made love and not let me brush it off as just having sex. If you can't even remember that… If you can't remember that about Freddie then maybe you are beyond hope."

The older Jade clenched her jaw tight and stared at her younger self with cold fury in her eyes.

Jade took a step back and commented, "I'm going to grab my stuff and a room to settle in. You want to talk later, I won't be far." She headed out of the room, but stopped at the doorway and looked over her shoulder. "Oh, and if 'Moose' comes back over and tries to slip into my room, I'll cut his balls off."

The teenager finished stepping out of the room and left a fuming musician behind.

Author's Note: I hope you found this chapter insightful into Jade's mind and how she viewed the act that really kicked off their relationship back in 'iActually Like Mean Girls'. I'll see you later. Thank you in advance for your reviews.


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Note: Hello everyone. I hope everyone is doing well. Thank you for the continued reading and support of this work. I hope you enjoy this installment.

In a related note to this story, if you've seen Liz's latest photoshoot… I didn't think I'd ever see that with her Elvis snarl pic. That's how Future Jade wore her 'wife-beater' top when Past Jade showed up. Anyway…

I think I covered everyone's individual reviews with PMs, but if I missed anyone, please let me know, so on with the story.

Rating: T Language and possible trigger words.

* * *

Chapter 10

"_Where have you been?"_

Jade looked up from her mother's PearBook with a slight scowl on her face at being interrupted from her web browsing and movie watching literally by her irritated self.

After claiming one of the stylish high end bedrooms as her own for the night and possibly for the next few days, the dark brunette had changed back into Freddie's Penny-Tee and a pair of pajama pants she had salvaged from her room to relax in one of the stadium seats in the living room for the rest of the afternoon and find some solitary peace from the insanity around her over the last several hours. She succeeded in that goal over the last hour with catching up with further news about how things had changed in the world over the last five years and was currently streaming a movie that Tori had starred in a about a year ago. It was some silly romantic comedy and not her genre of movie, but she could admit that Tori was adequate in her role.

Jade blew out an irritated breath through her nose and answered with a barely patient tone, "I went to visit some people."

The shorter haired Jade rolled her eyes while her arms were crossed under her chest then sarcastically responded, "You told me that when you were leaving; I want to know _who_ you went to see."

Jade sat the leaned back in the theater seat and slightly cocked her head to the side as she stared at her counterpart for a moment.

"Well?"

The darker brunette just stared at her for another moment to make her wait then casually answered, "I saw Cat and Sam."

The singer snorted out dismissively and had a seat in the neighboring chair and facing forward, "Is she still brain dead stupid?"

Jade sat the PearBook on the table next to her seat then looked back to her older self. "I guess not; she's well enough to be able to take care of children. I see that as an improvement."

The musician glanced to her left at the teenager and snorted out dismissively, "That doesn't prove anything other than there is some really stupid parents to trust their kids with a schizo and a criminal."

The teenager shook her head and out of habit ran her tongue over the front of her top teeth and under her upper lip then spoke, "I can't argue with the criminal part, but for 'schizo', like you're in any position to judge in taking care of a child."

She deeply frowned as she snapped back, "Why would I want children? Bunch of ungrateful greedy little brats, all of them. I don't need the headache or the trouble and they just abandoned you in the end… so there'll never be a Sapphire."

The teenager put on a confused expression. "Who's Sapphire?"

The older girl slightly frowned for a moment then let out a laugh.

"What?"

The additionally tattooed girl snorted out a laugh, "I guess you haven't talked about her yet. She was the hypothetical daughter you were going to have with Freddie one day." She shrugged a shoulder and she put on an expression that Jade couldn't quite identify as she finished, "That's not going to happen."

Jade narrowed her eyes and whispered out with a cold, determined voice, "You shouldn't count that out… I intend to raise our children in this home."

The tattooed musician looked back to her as if she was caught for a moment, but then shook her head in disgust. "Damn stupid girl…" She put on a deep frown and questioned, "Was that it? You were gone for a while."

Jade smirked as she felt she had really hit a nerve and continued with a hint of smugness, "No, I was planning to go back and talk to Tori and Beck, but I ran into Ava. You know she's working with Hollywood Arts to teach the students the teachers overlook… like I was overlooked?"

The older Jade mirrored the gesture of the tongue over her teeth and under her lip and shook her head. She smirked in a dismissive manner and answered with contempt dripping off her voice, "Oh, she's giving back to the community? She's probably doing that to give herself some self worth as she's living off her half-breed abomination of a boyfriend because hasn't made it."

Jade glared at her while she retorted, "That 'abomination' just healed our mother from her trying to drink herself to death. He cared as soon as he found out while you don't give a damn to check on her, do I guess you would know about children abandoning their parents."

Twenty seventeen Jade bit her tongue and glared at the teenager.

"She was a mess. Her organs were failing her and she had pre-cancerous tumors. How could let that happen to her? How could you let her nearly kill herself?"

Older Jade shouted back, "And who told you that? Him?"

"Yes."

She narrowed her eyes to her younger self while challenging, "And you just believed him?"

"He's never given me a reason to doubt his word."

The shorter haired West turned in her seat to face her younger self and retorted with a harsh tone, "Except telling you what he was: his mama's little spy to manipulate me and Freddie to stay together. He did a fine job of worming his way into our lives didn't he?" She shrugged a shoulder. "He's still at it with you right now with that convenient healing."

Jade dropped her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. She slightly shook her head then gave the older girl a look of pity. "I see the drugs really are giving you memory problems. We're the ones that kept pulling him into our lives: since he was in charge of TheSlap, we had to go to him to get our films posted; Freddie asking him to help handle the interview with Nevel; I'm the one that asked him to go to Seattle with me. If anything, it was us that kept pulling him into our problems… and what do you know? I pulled him into another one with mom and he was there for us once again."

The future Jade turned back in her seat to face forward to the oversized television with a slight scowl on her face.

Jade turned to face forward towards the television and looked equally disgusted.

The pair remained silent for about a minute or so until the older Jade commented, "She wouldn't support me; I'm not going to worry about her. Why should I worry about people that abandon me?"

Jade shifted to her right and against the armrest to shout back, "Mom never abandoned me… dad, yeah, but not her. She may irritate us at times… because we're so much a like, but she never did that and you shouldn't have left her to try to kill herself. Why? Why is she doing that?"

"I don't know, you'll have to ask her."

"I'm asking you; what would drive her to do that?"

She flippantly responded, "Maybe she was trying to kill her guilt for abandoning me. I don't know."

"Like you're doing with your pills?"

The shorter haired woman snapped around to give her younger self a harsh glare and countered, "I don't have anything to feel guilty about and I'm not a drug addict!"

Jade returned with a disinterested stare and retorted in a calm, even voice, "Ava asked to come back here with me so Dusty could try to help you, but I told her no; maybe I shouldn't have said no."

The multi-platinum artist jumped out of her seat to tower over the sitting teenager and shouted with outrage, "That freak better not touch me or I'll find some way to clip his wings! There's nothing wrong with me!"

Jade wasn't phased at all by the outburst because of the tone and the look of desperate denial. She tilted her head slightly to the side and whispered back, "Except pill popping and spreading your legs just for the fun of it."

Twenty seventeen Jade clenched her jaw tight and balled up her right fist while giving a death glare at her younger self.

The green streaked hair teenager glared right back, almost daring her to take a swing on her. However, she didn't and shouted out in frustration then turned to head out of the living room.

Jade frowned as she watched her go and shouted out her own frustration, "I'm going to see Freddie tomorrow! Find out what really happened!"

The musician stopped in mid-stride and looked over her shoulder. "Well when you see him, tell him to go fuck himself for me, okay?"

Jade bit her tongue hard and remained silent.

The shorter haired Jade started her way back up towards the stairs.

Jade snorted out her irritation and turned back to her pick up the PearBook and start back on her movie.

The rest of the afternoon and night passed with the two Wests avoiding one another. Jade remained camped out in the living room and reading more up on the world and spoiling herself with future episodes of her favorite shows and watching others that hadn't been created yet in her time. She even watched a new Galaxy Wars movie for Freddie's sake in case he wanted the option of being spoiled in the future (from her point of view). She assumed her older self was in her bedroom or one of the other rooms on the top floor doing only God knows what.

Dinner time rolled around, but the older West never came down, so Jade just raided the kitchen to fix her own meal and find something to drink that didn't involve alcohol. After eating, the younger West decided to explore at least the bottom floor of the house.

She started on her way in a random direction, her sock covered feet on the carpeted floor dampening any sound that could draw her older self's attention. She start on her way to poking her head into various rooms, but stopped when she looked into the first room as she saw that it was a miniature recording studio. Her eyes lit up at seeing the arrangement and eagerly entered the room.

She walked around the room to look at the set up and saw that her future self hadn't spared any expense with the equipment. She finally stopped and had a seat in a large, black leather chair. She wiggled in it for a moment to relax and look around once more. Her attention turned to a desktop and she instinctively rolled to it. She booted up the computer then saw the library of songs that were housed on it. She raised a curious eyebrow at seeing all the songs that she one day might write and couldn't help but want to listen to them.

She keyed up a song, presumably one of her early ones, and started playing it. She relaxed back in the black leather chair and listened to the first song that started through the high end speakers: a slow, more melancholy song. She relaxed there for the next hour or so listening to presumably her first album and into her second one. Her other self's anger was infused in several of her songs with lyrics she could tell were directed at her friends and some pretty harsh ones directed at Freddie even if she didn't mention him by name. There were other songs that expressed her sadness and loneliness and wondered if her fans realized how true the lyrics reflected their idol's life. She put on a disheartening expression as she could imagine some poor girl listening to a few of her songs and has that as the soundtrack to her life as she start cutting on herself. She took a deep breath as she may not have know what exactly her sound of music would be, but she knew in her soul that she didn't want to write music to bring people down and make them miserable, but uplift people's spirits.

Jade finally glanced at the clock in the corner of the computer monitor and saw that it was getting pretty late and decided that it was time for her to head to bed. She took a few moments to shutdown the computer then pushed herself out of the very comfortable chair she could have fallen asleep while resting in it. She headed back to her room and decided that she would just get her shower in the morning before she faced a new day in bizarre land, however once she made it up the stairs she decided to turn to head for the master bedroom instead of her room.

She reached the master bedroom and saw that her older self was already asleep (and barely dressed with the skimpiest of outfits) with the television still playing. She walked over and took a seat on the edge of the bed. It was odd watching herself for a moment asleep, but what disturbed her more was that the young woman still looked troubled even being asleep. She let out a soft breath then leaned over and gave her a soft hug in the hopes to at least give her some comfort. The older girl stiffened for a moment, but then relaxed and seemed to calm with the comforting presence.

Jade pulled away and turned off the television before standing up and heading back to her own room. She felt drained as she reached her room and as soon as she entered and reached her bed, she pulled back the blanket from the nice queen size bed then slipped inside to hopefully get a good night sleep. She closed her eyes and snuggled her head into her pillow and wondered when she woke up whether she'd still be here or in Freddie's arms. Quite frankly she had seen enough of this world and thought she could manage fixing everything even if she didn't get to speak with Freddie, but if she didn't, she knew she had the strength to continue through the trials set in front of her and wouldn't let her future turn out like this. That was the thought that drifted through her mind as drifted off to sleep.

The light filtered through the blinds and onto Jade's pale face. The light shining on her face didn't disturb her at first, but as the minutes ticked by and the sun warmed her face, the teenager started stirring from her sleep. She finally rolled onto her back and took a deep breath. She opened her eyes and pushed herself up into a sitting position as she supported herself with her arms back and her palms braced on the bed. She glanced around and saw that she was still in the fancy bedroom. She blew out an irritated breath and swore, "Jank it to Hell."

Vega Residence  
Monday, January 30, 2017

Jade pressed the doorbell and waited patiently at the door to the Vega home. After a quick shower and breakfast (one which her older self skipped), she had thrown back on her leather jacket along with a different Penny-Tee she had grabbed from the clothes she had raided from her closet and a pair of her blue jeans to head out for the day.

The door opened and Tori questioned her in surprise, "Jade?"

"Hey?"

The actress questioned with an awkward expression, "Still here?"

Jade asked with a hopeful tone that even surprised herself in regards to Tori, "Yeah… can I come in?"

"Yeah, sure," Tori quickly answered with a welcoming tone and stepped aside for the teenager to enter.

Jade glanced around to see if anyone else was around and Tori quickly answered the unasked question, "Beck and Trina are at the studio today."

The teenager slightly turned and looked over her right shoulder to question the successful actress, "Does Beck live with you?"

The lovely brunette shook her head and walked up beside her as she answered, "No, it's just me and Trina. We haven't decided about the living arrangement after we get married."

Jade cracked a weary smile. "You still live with your sister in the meantime? How can you stand that? Especially with dating Beck? Doesn't that get kind of awkward?"

Tori turned and started leading her through the house with Jade quickly following as she answered, "We're sisters. At the end of the day the only ones we can count on is each other."

"Yeah, but can't she afford a place of her own?"

"Yes, but…"

"But what?"

Tori stopped as she reached the kitchen and turned to face the younger girl. "I guess we have some abandonment issues, so we're sticking together for a while."

Jade knotted her brow.

Tori motioned to the silver refrigerator and asked, "Would you like anything?"

"I'm fine… what's wrong?"

Tori cleared her throat and glanced down to the kitchen island she had made her way to in the course of questioning. She muttered out, "Our parents divorced about six months after we graduated from Hollywood Arts."

Jade walked over to the other side of it rested her forearms against it in support then questioned in complete disbelief, "Why?"

"My dad found out that mom had been having an affair with his partner on the force." The younger Vega sister took another deep breath and looked to the pale teenager so she could continue, "Mom had stopped caring about us for a while and dad was just showing less and less care for Trina… we may bug each other, but we're sisters and we realized that the only ones we could count on were each other, so we stuck together after leaving home."

Jade swallowed down her surprise and instinctively muttered, "I'm sorry." She didn't have much memory of her parents' divorce since she was so young, but it must have been an entirely different experience when experiencing it at eighteen and nineteen.

Tori nodded her thanks then asked again, "Are you sure you don't want anything?"

The pale girl relented as she realized that Tori needed to get her something just to settle her own nerves in dredging up the memory if her sorrowful expression was any indication. "Water? Juice? Pretty much anything since she only seems to have alcohol at home."

The brunette cracked a smile and turned to the refrigerator. She pulled out some pink lemonade and two glasses from the cabinet then the pair headed to a small table set aside in the large kitchen. Jade had a seat while Tori poured them some lemonade then sat the pitcher on the table. The brunette took her seat cattycorner at the end of the table to the pale dark brunette sitting on her left and raised her glass before taking a sip.

Jade waited a few moments to let Tori settle herself before starting, "I met up with Ava and Dusty yesterday. He got your message… worried that I would mess up things for you and Beck?"

Tori bowed her head with a shameful expression and muttered out in an apologetic tone, "I'm sorry, it's just…" She looked up to meet the blue eyes to finish with forced confidence, "I love Beck and he loves me… he was able to move on from you like you were able to do with Freddie and I don't what anything to happen that could change that. I wanted to know if he knew anything about what's going on. I'm sorry if that sounds selfish; I do want you and Freddie to be happy."

Jade waited for a moment before answering and perhaps surprising the actress, "It's okay. Ava's afraid too. She doesn't want me to do something that inadvertently keeps them from getting together. I'm seeing first hand what it's like to lose the one you love… and I've already lived through it once. I don't want anyone else to go through that… even you. Before this whole mess with finding out that Beck had been talking to Carly from the start, I wanted him to be happy too and find someone and if it's you… then I'm happy and I won't mess that up."

Tori nodded her head then mouthed a thank you at her understanding. She took another sip from her lemonade then commented, "So you found out about Dusty?"

"Yes… dramatically," she muttered out then took a sip from her drink.

Tori smirked and playfully questioned, "What? Did he show you his wings?"

Jade's eyes widened in shock and fortunately had finished her sip or she might have spit it out. "_What?_ He has wings? You're kidding."

Tori let out a soft laugh at the expense of her friend and answered, "No I'm not, but I've never seen any feathers. If he didn't do that, then what did he do?"

Jade glanced down at the table and put on a soft frown as her fingertip played on the rim of the glass. "My mother is—was in pretty bad shape… she was drinking herself to death and he healed her. He just laid his hand on her and then… I heard a soft hissing sound and she was fine. Her normal pale color returned and she was sleeping peacefully instead of drunk out stupor…" She snorted out a breath and shook her head as she finished mumbling out, "…still trying to get my head around it."

Tori took in a sharp breath and gave the teenager a regretful expression. "I'm sorry Jade. If we would have know—"

Jade sat up straight in her chair and raised a hand to stop the lovely actress before she got started, "It's okay, Dusty is already regretful enough. No point in adding to it."

The actress lowered her eyes and regretfully muttered, "He does do that very well."

Jade slightly pursed her lips with a confused gaze from her eyes. "How do you know? Did you become friends later on too? He still calls you Vega. Do you remember his rule about names?"

The lovely Latino cleared her throat and looked down at the kitchen counter. She took a deep breath and answered, "I remember and he still uses it, but I know because… I was in a car accident a few years ago… it was pretty bad one. They may have said it wasn't anyone's fault, but… I still wasn't the best driver and I know it was my fault."

Jade leaned forward and rested her forearms on the table. Her voice filled with concern even for her former rival as she asked, "Were you alright?"

"Yeah, I was fine, but… the car that I hit… had a design flaw with the gas tank. The car engulfed in flames; a mom and her little girl were caught in it. The mom got out fine but… her daughter… she's only a little girl, not even five—"

Tori took a sharp breath and covered her mouth with a hand. She started blinked as her eyes started filling with moisture.

Jade had to clench her jaw tight to try to put on her best impassive expression as she didn't want to be pulled into the emotional moment Tori was having by dragging up the obviously painful memory, she didn't want her mind to go into such a terrible event.

The older girl took a calming breath and dabbed away her eyes with the back of her hand then continued, "She was in the burn ward and it was touch and go for her for a few days… she was so…" Tori shook her head and the tears started flowing.

Jade instinctively reached over and laid a hand on top of hers to give a comforting squeeze.

Tori sniffled then looked back to the teenager while trying to compose herself. "Let's just say it was bad… very bad and even if she survived which they weren't sure would happen, she would _never_ be whole, but then… one morning…" Tori cracked a smile and let out a relieving laugh, "…she was prefect in every way. She said that an angel came to her in the middle of the night, but we all knew it was him." Her smile faded as she finished, "He was withdrawn for awhile and I think he resented me for a little while…"

The pale teenager pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes on the actress. "I don't understand."

Tori took another sip from her glass to try to somehow calm her nerves even if she was nearly drinking pure sugar then answered with a resigned tone, "It's a burn ward… it's not like she was the only one in there… but he couldn't help them all and if he started to try… where would he stop? Could he ever stop? But he did heal all the other children there."

Jade looked down at her drink and for a moment she wish she had access to her future's self liquor cabinet. She muttered once she finished her sip, "That's why Ava said he looks at it as a curse."

"I don't envy him, but I'm grateful for him being around… and not just for the insta-healing…"

Tori trailed off and turned back to her drink. Jade did the same as an awkward silence fell between the pair.

The successful actress finished another sip then tried to ask in a casual voice coming off the emotional conversation, "So… why the visit? I thought you would have more important things to do then to see me again before you left. Other people that you need to see?"

"I do…" The pale teenager cautiously asked, "Do you talk to Freddie?"

Tori sadly shook her head. "No, he's not speaking to anyone that I know… not even André or Dusty."

Jade took in a soft breath and placed a hand over her mouth as she let that fact sink into her mind. She muttered out, "Things just get worst." She lifted her head and continued with an irritated voice, "Out of anyone else, you had to be the closest to him; you'd be the one that would keep in touch, but not even you? He doesn't talk to you?"

Tori bowed her head then glanced out to look out the glass doors to the backyard.

Jade gave her a hesitant expression. "Tori?

The actress refused to meet the girl's eyes and turned her attention to her lemonade and took another sip.

The teenager asked with a more forceful tone, "Is there something you need to tell me about you and Freddie? Why things went to chizz with you two?"

Tori held her hands up and put up a fearful expression on her face. "Now just hold on a second. Nothing happened between me and Freddie."

The dark brunette slightly frowned as she retorted, "That's not what I meant… but you're a little strong on the denial. What happened?"

Tori dropped her hands on the table and let out a soft breath. "You had left Hollywood Arts after the music awards and moved out… you cut us off, especially Freddie then filed for emancipation from your mom. He was hurt… very hurt and angry about it. I was there to help him best I could… even tried to help get you two back together, but… everything failed and we were friends…"

Jade took a sharp breath as she realized what she was hearing.

"_But_—he was your ex and I couldn't do that to a friend even after you left… and I didn't want to take advantage of his hurt… he was so broken. I wanted to be there for him, but… I was afraid things would go that way, so… after graduation he washed his hands of everything and left for MIT. I haven't spoken to him in years."

Jade shook her head and muttered out, "I wish something did happen between you two at this point."

Tori eyes shot open in shock.

Jade cleared her throat then clarified while giving Tori an intense stare, "I was never blind that you're his type: that whole down-to-Earth, girl next door thing of yours and being all normal like him… and maybe the Shelby Marx resemblance… I know you would have been good for him… you would have loved him."

The lovely actress still looked onto her in disbelief to what she was hearing. She cleared her throat and commented, "I guess you really did get over all your jealousy issues."

"I was only jealous with Beck because he encouraged it by not doing anything and blowing me off whenever I complained about it. Freddie never made light of my feelings about that and he always made it clear to me that I was first to him." She snorted out with a laugh, "He had an interesting way of doing it."

Tori bowed her head in embarrassment about the jab about her fiancé's past behavior, but was curious on how Freddie handled it, "What was that? What did he do?"

"Early on in our relationship he made it a point of telling me that he thought all of you were pretty and great girlfriend material in your own way, you, Cat and Trina; but went on to say how fortunate he was to have someone as good as me and was afraid he was the one that didn't measure up. He worried how could he compete for the affections of someone like me especially when I could still have feelings for Beck… like he had for Carly; he didn't know how to prove I was his only girl and worked everyday to prove it."

Tori bowed her head slightly and let out a soft laugh, "Sounds like Beck."

"Oh? Really?"

She confidently nodded in return, "I can empathize; the girls just throw themselves at him. It can be… hurtful."

The pale teenager smirked as inappropriate it may have been, she kind of enjoyed Tori realizing what it was like in her shoes, "So Tori Vega learned what it was like to be me?"

"Maybe, but he lets them know he's off limits… something I guessed he learned from losing you. We make mistakes and we learn from them."

Jade nodded along and agreed with a solemn tone, "I know I have and I'm learning about ones I haven't even made yet."

This time the girls fell into a comfortable silence until Jade realized something and narrowed her gaze on the older girl. "Wait, Beck's my ex too, so why did you think it was okay to be with him and not Freddie?"

Tori blew out a tired breath then answered softly, "You had just broken up with Freddie and he was hurting like I said and I didn't want to hurt you either. By the time that you really had moved on and wanted nothing to do with us… he was gone, but with Beck, you gave your blessing for him to date other girls the day you and Freddie got together and that can't be conditional on who he gets to date… so when it happened more than year after you broke up…"

The dark brunette thought on that for a moment and realized she agreed with Tori. She didn't say in so many words, but they had agreed to protect one another from any other partner from mistreating the other. She had made no conditions on who he could date and she wouldn't have dared accept any from him especially in regards to Freddie at that moment, so she had no right to object in who he dated. She finally answered with a soft nod of her head.

Tori let out a relieved breath maybe to finally let go of any linger guilt she had in regards to the possibility of her and Freddie and especially now planning to marry Beck.

Jade bowed her head and palmed her forehead with both of her hands to just try to take a moment to process the last few minutes of speaking with Tori. She felt a soft touch on her shoulder then looked up to a compassionate set of brown eyes. "It's going to be okay Jade."

"I've heard that before… and I'm trying to believe that but…"

"What?"

"It's worst than I thought with… _me_… I walked in on her…"

Tori dropped her hand away from the teenager's shoulder and curiously asked, "Doing what?"

Jade glanced away for a moment then finished, "Some guy named Moose had his face planted in her crotch and… I don't have to paint you a picture."

The actress blinked in surprise as a mental image instantly formed in her head of such a sight. "Moose? She's with _Moose_?"

"No, she's not. He's her boytoy…" Jade quickly blinked and asked, "Wait, you know Moose?"

"Yeah, you don't remember him?"

The blue eye girl shook her head. "I don't know any 'Moose'."

Tori pinched the bridge of her nose. "Oh, you haven't met him yet. He didn't visit until after the music awards. I didn't know that our Jade knew him."

"Who?"

Tori relaxed in her seat and answered, "Moose is one of Beck's childhood friends from Canada."

Jade's eyes shot open wide. "She's doing one of Beck's friends?"

Tori shrugged a shoulder. "I'm not sure how close they are."

Jade shook her head in disgust and countered, "Not that close because all the time I was with Beck, he never mentioned him… anyway, after I caught them and I threw him out, she popped some more pills then skipped dinner. She didn't even get up for breakfast before I left."

Tori's shoulders and a look of helplessness appeared on her face. "If there's anything I can do to help…"

Jade took a deep breath and forced a confident appearance on her face. "There is: there are a few other things I want to talk to you about."

"Ask me anything," she answered with a hopeful tone.

"I saw Cat and Sam… Sam, she's living with _Sam_."

Tori cleared her throat and looked away actually fearful of the teenager as memories of high school surfaced of the times the pale girl had intimidated her.

"How could you let that happen? Let her live with that bitch? How could she possibly be safe with Sam?"

Tori let out a patient breath then retorted, "Sam really cares about Cat… she really replaced Carly in Sam's life. She won't do anything to hurt her."

"So she really hasn't changed? She's just swapped out Cat for Carly on her 'do not touch list'?"

"I don't know. I don't go over there all that often; Sam doesn't come along with us when we hang out and she doesn't come over here when Cat is over for slumber parties."

Jade narrowed her eyes in disbelief. "You still have slumber parties?"

"Cat's still Cat and she loves movie night and staying up late."

The inspiring screenwriter rolled her eyes then continued, "Ava said you offered Cat to stay with you."

"I did. We have plenty of spa—"

"I can see that," Jade sarcastically snapped.

Tori took a deep breath and rallied her courage to snap back, "Look, I can't make her stay here. I know I wasn't the only one that offered after she moved out from her parents. Her brother and Ava offered for her to stay with them. I know Dusty was beside himself even after everything between them, but she's happy, so we don't push the issue anymore."

Jade threw her hands up. "Fine, okay I get it. I got the same thing from Cat, but…"

"What?"

"She wants to stay with Sam, but I just don't know if I can do that when I get back. I don't know if I can respect those wishes."

"If you love her then that's exactly what you do. You can offer her to stay with you if that's what you're thinking, but in the end it is her decision if you respect her as your friend."

Jade let a slightly withdrawn expression form on her face as she countered, "Wow Tori, you really got wise in your old age."

Tori snorted out a laugh at being called old at twenty-three. "Gee thanks Jade. I've missed this part of our relationship."

The old camaraderie brought a laugh from the blue eye girl's lips which caused Tori to laugh louder. Once they're respective laughs settled, Jade began again, "Okay, Cat can live with who she wants to live, but… you're a big movie star. I watched some of your movies last night… you're not that bad."

"Thanks," she answered with a smirk.

"Which made me wonder: why don't you get Cat some parts? She's stuck having to baby-sit with Sam."

"She's happy—"

"Happy living with her, but she's happy giving up performing? You're seriously telling me that?"

Tori frowned and looking away as Jade did catch a bit of shame in the older girl's eyes. The actress blew out a soft breath and whispered, "I'm telling you that I can't make her do anything she doesn't want to do."

"You can at least throw your name around and get her some auditions. You're meeting that Katie chick for lunch today, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Well tell her to give Cat a shot during your negotiation… or are you afraid she's a better singer than you and beat you out?"

"Really? You're saying that about me?"

"I'm just trying to figure out this messed up world and why people are doing or failing to do certain things."

The successful actress took a breath and nodded her head. "You're right. She may be happy with Sam, but that doesn't mean I can't do that for her. Cat shouldn't get left behind. I'm paying my manager enough, so maybe I should be using her to help Cat."

"Good, I'm glad that's settled. At least I can fix that in this crazy world."

Tori softly smirked and shook her head.

The humor left Jade's voice as she spoke with an almost hallowed tone, "One more thing."

"Yeah?"

"Do you know where Carly is? Ava thought she was somewhere in Europe."

Tori took a quick breath then answered, "I think she has some showings in France right now. I think Beck might know they're closer than I am with her."

The green streaked hair teenager nodded. "Could you find out?" Jade snorted out a laugh. "Ava said Dusty could give me a lift and I think I'll take him up on the offer. I need to know how she saw everything."

"Give me a sec to call Beck." She got up and walked back to the living room while Jade waited patiently at the table and finished her lemonade.

Tori was back in less than a minute with a slip of paper with something scribbled on it. Jade stood up from her seat and instinctively took the piece of paper as the older girl explained, "This is the theater that she's performing at today."

"Thanks." The pale actress was surprised when Tori then pulled her into a quick hug. "Good luck," she whispered into the teenager's ear.

Jade gave her an awkward smile as Tori took a step back. "Right… remember, you take care of Cat… in case I fail and nothing changes, got it?"

The lovely brunette gave a nod of her head as she let a somber expression form on her face. She whispered in a matching tone to her face, "I will."

"Now let's see if this will work."

Tori gave her a curious expression. "What?"

Jade softly laugh and coyly eyed her as she spoke, "Oh I lay myself down to sleep for I pray to Dusty to get his possibly feathery tail over here. I need to see Carly and I could use a lift." Jade softly laughed for a few seconds afterwards as she shook her head in the sheer absurdity of what she had just done until she saw Tori tilt her head to the side and gave her a slight smirk with the sound a soft rustling of air behind the teenager out of time.

The pale, blue eyed girl slightly frowned as Tori motioned her eyes over the younger girl's right shoulder. Jade slowly turned around and sucked in a quick breath at seeing Dusty standing there with a soft smile on his face.

"Wow, even your prayers are sarcastic."

* * *

Author's Note: I think this was quite an eye opening chapter and the next one I hope is even better and reveal another _very important_ theme I'm trying to get across that I set up for in this chapter, so I hope you stick around for the ride. Thanks for reading and reviewing.


	11. Chapter 11

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone has had a good Christmas and week and I'm happy for this update (along with some other ones including 'We Love Each Other').

Challenge King: I'm sorry, but you'll going to have to wait just a little longer for her to see Freddie, but I'm lad that you enjoyed the chapter.

PD31: Thanks. I wanted to show how Jade has developed in regards to Tori and as you point out to me in a conversation about the change, you'll see it in this chapter.

Freddie might be the key or he might not and it's just a big red herring. We'll have to see either way.

Twilight Warrior 627: Patience with Freddie; he'll be along with he's needed. You talk about clouding F!Jade's mind and perspective, I did list one of the medications she's taking. Look up the side effects to it and that might shine a light on some of her behavior.

green aura: It's an examination of freewill vs. how much do you interfere with in other people's lives. Where is the line? You'll get an answer to one of those questions in this chapter and concerns about Dusty.

Fanfic-Reader-88: Actions have consequences and that is one of them: if they aren't together, they can't have kids.

There have been hints twice that Mrs. Vega might have a thing for her husband partner and she has shown less concern for her children while Mr. Vega doesn't care much for Trina, so they stuck together. Dusty was explained: he can't help everyone, so he has to pick and choose who he gets to help. That's a terrifying level of power and responsibility to have and shows the downside of having the flashy powers. Cat living with Sam? I am curious to how Dan will pull it for the show.

Jeremy Shane: Thanks and glad you enjoyed it.

PayPal: Ah, know what specifically?

Special Guest Star Miranda Cosgrove

Rating: T Language

Okay, on with the story.

* * *

Chapter 11

Jade took several calming breaths as she kept her eyes closed and held on to Dusty around the small of his back with her left arm and right hand gripping his leather covered shoulder after feeling a brief pulling sensation in the core of her being for the lack of a better description of the sensation.

Dusty held on to her by her waist with his right arm and left hand on top of the one on his shoulder and with the way her head was turn, he could speak directly into her left ear. "Okay, take a few more breaths then slowly open your eyes… the first time is always the most disorienting. The brain has a problem processing your surroundings completely changing when you have your eyes open, but it's a little easier if they were closed… like having them closed and making your way to another room then opening them."

The pale teenager slowly started blinking her eyes and seeing that it was dark then sucked in a breath and blinked as she realized that her surroundings had completely changed in sight, sound and temperature. She pulled away from the young man and started to glance around. She asked almost rhetorically as she instantly recognized where they were with the Eiffel Tower lit up and dominating the night skyline, "We're actually here?"

Dusty softly smiled as he looked on her innocent wonder.

She turned back to him and stated with a soft smile, "We're in Paris."

He just maintained his smile as he let it really sink in for the girl out of time.

"I could see how that could come in handy."

He smirked with a shrug of his shoulder. "I try only to use it for emergencies… I like driving."

"Ava said you did this on a tour of the Mediterranean during your last anniversary."

He softly laughed, "Well… she's the obvious exception."

A smirk formed on Jade's face as she retorted, "Right… but you consider this an emergency? Hopping to another continent?"

Dusty lost his friendly smile as he answered with a solemn tone that gave the amateur actress pause, "To put my friend back together again—or better yet preventing you from breaking in the first place, Heaven yeah."

Jade cleared her throat and looked down from the determination in his eyes. She looked around and instantly saw what she assumed to be the theater across the street with its Greek pillars supporting the front with a number of pedestrians walking past and patrons heading into the building. Her eyes looked further up to see the name of the theater confirming her assumption.

She questioned with a bit a sense of awe, "So this is it?"

"Yep, the Odéon." He looked back to her with a curious expression. "This is the where you were told she'd be, right?"

She pulled out the piece of paper from her leather jacket pocket and doubled checked the place then looked back to him to answer, "It's what Beck told Tori when she called."

He slightly tilted his head to the side for an instant and commented as he continued to look at the building, "Then I guess she's here."

Jade raised her pierced eyebrow and asked with a hint of disbelief, "You trust Beck? That's new."

He softly rolled his eyes and snorted out a laugh, "I'm counting on him not being stupid enough to lie to his future wife or send me off on a wild goose chase…"

The way he trailed off with the statement made Jade start thinking about what exactly he would do to Beck pulled such a thing and that's exactly what she thought was his intention. However, she didn't have the time or the energy to worry about what future versions of her ex and friend's potential conflict.

"So how exactly did you plan to see her? We'd walk right up and they'd just point us to her dressing room?"

"Ah…"

"Didn't think that far ahead?"

She crossed her arms under her chest and frowned at him then sarcastically retorted, "Hey, I'm having to make it up as I go along. This is my first time traveling trip, so cut me some slack."

Dusty softly chuckled and bowed his head. He looked back up with her and playfully answered, "Well I think you're doing a fine job at it."

Her frown cracked with the slight raise of the corner of her mouth then blew out a breath to prevent herself from laughing.

The pair started their way across the street and towards the front of the theater. Once they crossed the street, Dusty softly laughed as he led them, "Oh, this brings back some memories."

Jade cocked her pierced eyebrow and stopped just before they headed up the steps.

He turned to her with a hint of curiosity and she questioned in disbelief, "How does this bring back memories? Magically popping to another country."

He softly chuckled then patiently explained, "What I do _isn't magic_… what I did for your mother was not magic and what I meant was that this isn't the first time you've wanted me to come along to see Carly in the hopes of saving Freddie, but now we're doing it to save you both." He turned and headed up the steps then softly laughed over his shoulder, "That was just a few weeks ago for you, right?"

She remained in place and looked at his back with a sense of apprehension. She whispered out and caught his attention as he reached the top step, "Why haven't you saved me?"

He abruptly stopped and turned to look down at her with a slightly knotted brow and slight frown showing her his confusion by what she meant by the question.

She took a deep breath then cautiously challenged him, "Tori told me about the little girl you healed after her car accident and all the other children in the burn ward. She believes it was you and I don't doubt it."

Dusty's shoulders immediately tensed and took a deep breath. He slowly let it out as he answered, "Yes… I did…"

"And you healed my mom… and you obviously still care about me or we wouldn't be here, but I'm a mess. Why haven't fixed me? And I'm not talking about the drugs and the drinking like Ava."

He took a sharp breath and turned his gaze downward. The caught from the corner of his eye a few of the patrons were giving them curious looks being drawn to their conversation by the fact that they were speaking English. Dusty glanced around and realized that some of them probably understood what they were saying. He looked back to Jade with a slight frowned and nodded his head to the ticket master. "If we're going to have this conversation, could we not do it in public?"

She nodded along to give him that consideration and he turned back to the box office. The pair reached the ticket master as most of the entering patrons had already bought tickets and entering the theater.

A very lovely female attendant with short dark brunette hair just passed her jaw line, probably no older than Dusty, smiled at the pair and quickly spoke. Of course, Jade didn't understand a word she was saying.

Jade put on a crooked smile and looked to Dusty as she realized another one of the obstacles she didn't plan for in wanting to see Carly. She whispered to her taller companion, "I don't speak French."

He leaned over and whispered with a smile, "I do."

Her bow furled as she questioned him in surprise, "You do? I didn't know you could speak other languages."

"It turns out that I can speak any language including ones that are dead and haven't been invented yet… I even picked up Enochian."

She blinked and her questioning expression turned into one of confusion.

He shrugged a shoulder, "How else can angels talk to people all over the world to be understood when their sent to speak to them?" The former webmaster turned back to the attendant and gave her a charming smile and answered her fluently. Jade may not been able to understand what they were saying, but she could definitely tell he was flirting with her and from the look on the other girl's face, she was eating it up. Dusty nodded his head towards Jade once or twice during the conversation then reached into his jeans' pocket and pulled out his wallet then handed her a few bills.

The young French lady seductively eyed him as she accepted the money then took a few moments to get the tickets while he put his wallet back in his pocket. She slid the pair of tickets along with the receipt then she winked at Jade.

Jade's mouth became a thin line and her eyes widened as she wasn't sure how to take it.

He leaned over and whispered, "Come on."

She didn't argue as she let him lead her inside, but as soon as they were passed inside, she not so gently grabbed him by his right arm to try to pull him to a stop. However she was the one that was surprised as he walked a step or two forward before realizing what she was trying to do and she nearly crashed into him.

The pale actress quickly caught her breath and balance then looked to him in disbelief, "Really? Making you moves on her while you're with Ava?"

He turned to her and gave her a look that let her know he was questioning _her_ sanity for a moment. "Hey, I just got her to accept U.S. dollars… as worthless as they are thanks to Bush and Obama, where Carly's dressing room and…" He held up the back of the receipt to show her. "…I got that lovely girl's phone number."

Jade crossed her arms in front of her and gave him a cold expression. She hissed out, "You got that all from her with some smooth talking? And her phone number?"

He winked at her and whispered, "Well unfortunately I did get some of my father's womanize talent, but… she wanted me to give _you_ her phone number… she said she'd love to teach you some French in a very _intimate_ setting."

The pale girl blinked in surprise which instantly brought a smirk to his face. "What? You've never been hit on by a girl? Really? I find that kind of hard to believe."

She advert her eyes away and pursed her lips as she had no intention of letting him know either way.

He let out a soft chuckle as apparently he took her answer as 'yes' then nodded his head further into the theater. "Let's go find Carly before the show starts."

"Wait?"

"What?"

"You still owe me an explanation," she stated with a firm voice that showed that she wasn't going to be put off again especially since the lobby was clearing very quickly for the patrons to head for the auditorium.

Dusty frowned again and glanced away from her blue eyes.

"I want an answer Dusty: why didn't you fix me?"

He looked up and glared at her just before snapping, "Because I'm not Jesus."

Jade shook her head in disgust and surprise. She looked at him with a slightly tiled head and commented with a mix of disgust and hurt, "Wow… be a real gank about it. I'm talking about my very life hear and you have to be flippant about it."

"I'm not being flippant; I'm telling you my limitations. I can't 'fix her'; her being 'a mess' isn't primarily due to whatever drugs she's taking or boozing it up… it's not physical or a demon or some kind of spirit controlling her, it's emotional. Your mom's going to go right back to that bottle if she doesn't fix what caused her to crawl in it in the first place."

He took a step closer to her so she would have trouble with breaking eye contact with him if she tried and continued with regret dripping off of his voice, "Yes, I can heal your mother and I can heal little Crystal, but out of all the things I can do…"

He rested his hands on her shoulders and looked into eyes as if he was looking directly into her soul which she wondered for a moment if that was exactly what he was doing. His voice with such regret that even Jade felt a ping of hurt as he finished, "…I can't mend your… _her_ broken heart… I can't put it back together again… my Uncle Cas says I get it from my dad: 'You can't save everyone, though you try'… but I should have been able to save you, but I can't save you… I can't save my friend… I'm not your deus ex machina even though I wish I could be. I'm sorry, but it's up to you face her inner demons, but we all with you."

Jade took several slow breaths as she took in his words and trying not to flinch from the intensity of his eyes. She reached up and patted him on his left hand on her shoulder and glanced away. "Okay… okay, I understand… I think I understand. I'm sorry… I'm sorry for making it sound like an accusation."

He dropped his hands from her shoulders and gave her a soft smile. "It's the most logical question to ask in the circumstances."

"These are some pretty crazy circumstances."

"We live in a pretty crazy world, almost as if we were in some crazy sitcom."

She snorted out a breath and shook her head.

He nodded over his shoulder and suggested, "Come on. Let's go find Carly for you."

"How are we going to get backstage to talk to her? You may know where she is, but they're not going to let us just walk back there to see her."

Dusty held up his finger to his lips and grin while staring directly into her eyes. "Who said anything about walking?" The next moment she heard the soft rustling of wind or the sound of a flapping wing, she wasn't exactly sure. She glanced around and realized that they had moved and rapidly started blinking. She placed her fingertips to the side of her temple and felt a sense of dizziness as she complained, "I better not get vertigo from you."

She growled as she heard him have the nerve to let out a soft chuckle, but didn't get to snap at him as she heard a familiar voice call out from behind Dusty, "What in the world?"

Jade glanced around his arm to see Carly Shay sitting at a dressing table with mirror wearing a silk dressing robe and looking at them in surprise.

Dusty laughed and turned around with open arms to the other pale brunette, "Hello Carly Shay."

The lovely brunette turned in her seat and her face lit up. She instantly stood up from her seat and crossed the short distance and pulled the Southern young man into a hug.

"Oh my God Dusty?!" She pulled away from him and excitedly asked, "What are you doing here?"

He grinned and shrugged a shoulder as he answered, "I wish it was to say just to see your performance, but… I'm here on family business."

"Family business?"

"Yep."

Carly still had her natural paleness skin tone and if possible, she became paler as she fearfully asked, "Oh my God, there's not ghosts from the time of the French Revolution haunting the place?"

He chuckled then playfully tapped her on the nose. "Not that I know of, but I'm not here for that part of the business, but the other part…" He sidestepped to reveal Jade wearing an apprehensive expression.

Carly's brow furled as she looked at the younger girl. "Jade?"

"Jade as in five years ago Jade and she needs to talk to you."

The older brunette gave Dusty a questioning expression.

He raised his hands and stopped her before she could get started, "I didn't do it. She thinks it's mom, but I haven't confirmed that. It could be Mitch, I don't know."

The stage actress looked back to Jade and her eyes widened then snapped her head back to Dusty. "Why?" then looked back to Jade to ask just as quickly, "Why?"

The green streaked haired teenager took a deep breath then confidently answered, "I want to know what happened… what happened to me and Freddie from your perspective… I've seen how I turned out… I won't end up like this."

Dusty awkwardly spoke up, "I think I'll leave you two alone to talk."

Jade snapped in concern, "Where are you going?"

He softly chuckled, "I'm in Paris… you don't think I'm going to pick up something nice for Ava?"

The blue eyed girl gave him a soft smirk in understanding as she could see how much he did care about the teacher. "But how am I going get a hold of you when I'm ready to go? I doubt the cell phones are going to work."

Dusty let a corner of his mouth raise as he replied, "The same way you got me the first time: just pray, I'll hear you." Between the blink of an eye and the sound of a soft flapping wing, he was gone.

Jade cleared her throat as her brain tried to processes his disappearance. She looked to the older girl and asked with a hint of disbelief in her voice, "Do you get use to that?"

"He doesn't actually do that that often that I know, so no, I haven't. I assume Ava and Eva have." The stage actress paused for a moment the asked, "So…"

"So…"

Now that Jade was actually in front of the former web-celebrity, she wasn't exactly sure how to begin, so she said the first thing that popped inside her head, "Congratulations… I read your dad became President," and finished with an awkward laugh.

Carly nodded along her thanks and whispered, "Thank you… I'm so proud of him." She smiled up then let out a soft laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"You're lucky Dusty brought you; you wouldn't have gotten passed the Secret Service detail."

The younger brunette snapped around to look at the door to the dressing room and wondered for a second if they would come barging inside.

"It's okay; they're not outside the door. They're at the end of the hall to make sure no one comes to the dressing room who isn't supposed to."

"Oh?" She let out a relieved breath and a small smile formed on her face without realizing it.

Carly softly laughed at the younger girl's mild, momentary discomfort then continued, "Since you're bringing up my dad, how's your mom?"

The blue eyed girl frowned answered with a sharper tone than she intended, "She's a wasted out drunk that Dusty had to heal from killing herself."

Carly sucked in a breath then looked down embarrassingly. "I'm sorry."

"So am I… I—my future self abandoned her… everyone abandoned her."

The older brunette snapped her head up and retorted with her own sharp tone, "My dad didn't abandon her; she's the one—" She stopped and softly bit her tongue and looked away.

"What?" Jade demanded as she was not going to be stonewalled Shay daughter.

Carly turned to retake her seat at her dressing table then let out a tired breath. She looked back up to the teenager's as she walked over to lean her weight against the table with arms crossed under her chest. "She's the one that turned him down."

Jade tilted her head and gave her a confused expression. "What?"

"After… after you left to be a famous music star, your mom… she just couldn't deal with all the lost: you, Mister West, my mom… she pretty much lost everything she loved."

"But your dad—"

"He tried… he took retirement after Benghazi and tried to be there for her… he even asked her to marry him, but…"

Jade sucked in a sharp breath at the news that he had done such a thing. "He what?"

Carly gave her an impatient expression. "You heard me." Her voice softened as she continued, "But she turned him down… I think she couldn't deal with losing him too if she said yes. I'm not exactly sure. It could have been that she thought that marrying him would make it look like she was picking our family over you." Carly looked away and finished with a hollowed tone, "That hurt dad and I think that's why he ran for President… he couldn't save mom or yours and he didn't have the service anymore so… the only thing was left was one last duty… his country in the hopes of saving it… one last chance to save something he loves."

Jade bowed her head for a few moments to process what she had told her. She realized she was having to do that a lot since she got to this Twilight Zone world. She finally shook her head and muttered out, "Us as stepsisters?"

Carly looked up with an expression of deep pity and whispered, "Would you have denied your mother happiness over your hatred of me?"

Jade paused then looked at the fellow pale young woman. She whispered out with a forced coldness in her voice, "I have good reason to hate you."

Carly snorted out a breath and shook her head. "Which makes it even funnier since Spencer thinks we might be sisters anyway."

Jade softly bit her tongue as the statement hit a little too close to one of her own thoughts.

The older girl gave her a soft smile and continued, "We're two days apart… you share some qualities with my dad and you and Spencer are alike in some ways… you both do that same sarcastically goofy laugh and dad's cared about your wellbeing for years… far more than Roy ever has and… my dad loves your mom."

Jade bowed her head and glanced forward so she wouldn't have to look at the stage actress. She finally whispered out, "I've wondered that too in private." She turned her head to look at Carly again and questioned while putting on an impassive expression, "Why haven't you asked him to know for sure? You don't won't to know he betrayed your mom? Maybe that's why my mom turned him down: he'd do the same thing to him."

Carly started laughing, laughing at all things that caused the younger girl to look at her as if she had lost her mind.

"How is that funny?"

The fellow dark brunette had to cover her mouth with her hand and take a few more moments to calm herself enough to answer. She looked up at Jade and gave her a look as if she was a child that had said something absurd but completely believing it. "My father would never betray my mother. You know why he didn't date anyone even ten years after my mother's death?"

Jade blinked as she had never thought about the Colonel's romantic practices being a widower. The teenager timidly whispered, "No."

Carly leaned slightly forward and answered with regretful tone, "Because he felt like he was cheating on her… my mom's in Heaven and he still felt like he was cheating on her if he even talked to a woman more than in a platonic manner."

"Then if we could be sisters, how else could it happen if he didn't betray her?"

Carly leaned back in her seat and answered sense of sympathy for the girl in front of her, "You know your mother had problems conceiving and my mom knew that and it broke her heart because she loved your mom like a sister and wanted her to be happy, so… dad had to a… do the job Mister West couldn't seem to manage."

Jade's brow knotted and looked on with a disbelieving expression. "You really believe that?"

"If we're sisters… it's the only way you could happen. Spencer was old enough to understand before and after you were born and understood how mom thought since he got to grow up with her, so…"

Jade looked away and took a slow breath. Her mother may have not talked about Taylor Shay, but she knew her mother loved her and missed her at times and that the Colonel cared about her mother too, so as she thought on it, she couldn't completely discount the story. However, as fascinating as her paternity would be for her, she had something more pressing in mind to have clarified, so she filed it away to discuss with her mother when she got back to her time.

"Let's set aside for the moment the ramifications of the possibility that we could be sisters… would you answer some of my questions?"

Carly opened her mouth to answer, but there was a knock on her dressing room door. She looked around Jade and called out in French. The door opened and a middle aged man with nearly black hair quickly entered and started quickly speaking (or quickly from Jade's point of view as she didn't understand the language and didn't know if that was simply the pace of conversation speech).

He suddenly stopped as she realized that Jade was in front of the stage actress. He looked in surprise at Jade then to Carly for an explanation.

Carly responded in his native tongue and the waved him off with a hand. He nodded his head and passed a glance to Jade then hurried out of the room and pulled the door shut behind him.

Jade looked to the older girl for an explanation.

The older dark brunette leaned her head to her right and answered, "I told him you were an old friend visiting and to stall with the first show… I'll answer anything you want to know."

"Thanks," Jade answered before she could catch herself.

Carly gave her a soft smile. "You're welcome. Anyway, ask away."

Jade took a deep breath and looked away for a moment then glanced back to ask in a near solemn tone, "What happened to me and Freddie?"

Carly asked with concern, "You haven't talked to everyone else? Dusty didn't tell you?"

"I've talked to everyone except Freddie about what happened… I'm going to talk to him later today, but I want to know what happened from your point of view."

The former Seattleite glanced downward and answered with a regretful tone, "I wasn't there most of the time, so I'm not sure what I can tell you. I've just heard things secondhand—thirdhand from Sam by Cat."

Jade muttered, "I'm still trying to get my head around how that works."

"Yeah… we all are," Carly answered a bit hurt in her voice and looked to the floor.

Jade felt a momentary prick that she should say a kind word to the girl as it was obvious hurt her that Sam may have replaced Cat as her best friend, but Carly quickly continued, "Anyway… I thought things had gotten better with Freddie after my visit. He seemed at—"

"Your visit?"

"Yeah, the week I spent down in L.A. during my mid-winter break after President's Day."

"You did what?"

Carly softly rolled her eyes. "I guess you haven't come up with the suggestion yet."

"No… what was it?"

"You wanted Freddie to find peace with everything that happened with me—"

"I know that, but—"

"Could I please finish before you interrupt?"

Jade pulled her arms tighter under her chest and reluctantly hissed out, "Fine."

The fellow pale girl gave her a slight smirk then answered, "As I was saying: You thought we could really get the ball going on your plan if I came down for the week and Freddie was forced to face the issue. We talked, we shouted, we even talked with Lane to help us and by the end of the week, Freddie seemed at peace. We were at peace with one another. We had gotten back to where we were before New Years. We were going to give our friendship another try."

"So it worked? I saved Freddie?"

"Yes… at least for a while until you left him which I can only guess as to why since I wasn't there."

Jade looked away and slightly frowned as she thought back yesterday on her conversation with Beck. She had been the problem, she was the one that couldn't let go of her hate and resentment of Beck and it had poisoned the rest of her life until she drove everyone away. She looked back to Carly and cleared her throat so she could ask one more question, "One last thing… did you purposely get kidnapped by Nora to get him up there? When Beck called you after I told him what I was going to tell Freddie, did you start hatching a plan to get him back?"

"You've asked me that before… five years ago."

Jade snapped her head around and bite back, "And I'm asking you again."

Carly bowed her head and licked her bottom lip then back up, "No, I did not… I wanted to forgive like Freddie had forgiven me, but I didn't tell the entire truth when you showed up with Dusty.

Jade stood up from leaning against the vanity and glared down at the older girl. She hissed out, "What was that?"

"I didn't just miss Freddie, but I had realized that I loved him and I did wish he'd come back to me, but I didn't try to sabotage you."

The dark brunette teenager took a deep breath at the revelation. She wasn't surprised by it as she would think because she really didn't care about the girl's motivations for what she did in regards to Freddie. She slowly let it out and delicately asked as she was at least curious, "Then why didn't you get with him after we broke up? He was available and hurt and you could have swooped right in to 'save him'."

Carly slightly frowned then answered with a slightly forced patient voice, "I wasn't going to be a rebound relationship… I didn't want him to think he loved me when he didn't." The former web-hostess looked to her mirror as she finished, "Besides… Tori would have stepped in to stop me from taking advantage of the situation if I was inclined, then Sam would have jumped in to get Tori out of the way then Dusty and the rest would have countered Sam…" She rolled her eyes and muttered, "Which didn't do any good because they went at it just after her and Cat moved in together… he nearly killed her."

Jade softly smiled as she recognized that Carly was right in her assessment. She had to suppress a laugh at the idea that once she was terrified that Tori would have taken Beck from her, but now she was grateful for her being there to protect Freddie from himself and others and would have happily accepted Tori being with him so he could have been happy. "Well… they are his friends and they would protect him… and he would have gotten with Tori before you."

She nodded along and idly commented, "He did like Shelby Marx when he met her."

"That's not why he would have gotten with Tori… from where I'm from she is his best friend, besides me of course."

Carly blew out a soft breath through her nose. "Yeah…"

The pair fell into a surprisingly comforting silence as Jade looked to the floor and Carly towards the mirror.

Jade blew out a breath and whispered, "Thanks for… indulging me. You need to get ready and I need to go."

Carly looked away from the mirror and answered, "Your welcome… good luck."

"Thanks… since everyone's asking me to make sure I don't mess them up, do you have anything you'd like me to do, other than dumping Freddie so you can have him?"

Carly snorted out a laugh then looked up to Jade with a smile. "If one day my dad asks your mom to marry him… tell her it's a good idea."

The blue eyed girl paused for a moment then answered with a hint of a smile, "If putting up with you as a stepsister makes my mom happy, I think that's a small price to pay."

Carly stood up and surprised Jade with a quick hug then pulled away. "Good luck Jade and I'm sorry for all the hurt I've put you through."

"Thanks… but one last thing, how come you're not freaked out about all this? I'm from the past and Dusty's a child of an angel and Sam's the child of a demon… or so Dusty says?"

Carly let a soft smile form on her face as she answered, "Mitch dropped me into a world where Spencer was born 'normal' remember? I've done one of these trips myself and for Sam… she's still my Sam and I love her like a sister even if we're not as close as we used to be, so I don't care who or what her father is. That's something you could do for me: warn me not to neglect my friendship with Sam."

"I'll do that." She stepped back then glance around the room to call out, "Dusty, Dusty, Dusty, it's Jade and I hope you're listening. I'm ready to go, so if you could pop back by, Carly needs to get ready."

A rustling sound emanated from a few feet behind Jade and the girl looked to see Dusty holding up two bags and laughed, "I went shopping. I really hope Ava likes this stuff."

* * *

Author's Note: I hope you liked this chapter. I hope I answered the concern about why Dusty doesn't wave a hand and fix stuff: _he can't_. I talked up all the things he could do in earlier chapters to make it a point how powerless he is when it really counts. I also pointed out in 'Jade Likes Nice Guys' that when tampered with Freddie's soul in iChristmas (that is what I assumed happened to explain Freddie's OOC moment after Carly got back) that was a big no-no and something that you don't do even if you can.

I really wanted to try some things in this one and I did with the storyline I've hinted at for a long time across several stories about Colonel Shay and Mrs. West and Jade's real paternity. Oh, yes, the Colonel is the President in 2017 and still played by Joe Flanigan regardless of who Dan got to play in 'iGoodbye'.


	12. Chapter 12

Hello dear readers and a happy late Friday/Saturday to you. Another chapter, a longer chapter than expected, so I got it finished today than yesterday. I thought it was better to take an extra day to finish the last section of this chapter than to push it back to another chapter. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

I wanted to do a little cross promotion, I've posted a long overdue update to one of my other stories: 'iWould Have Pounded Him Silly'. I hope you take the time to read that and let me know what you think.

Challenge King: Thank you and I hope you will enjoy this chapter.

Twilight Warrior 627: Now you know why I made it such a point of what he could do 'flashy powers' to show how pointless they are in the grand scheme of thing with it being up to Jade to fix her own life. You can't wave a magic wand and fix everything.

Carly… did she really feel that way or did she only think she felt that way because Freddie was more than a thousand miles away and was with another girl? I don't know.

Does Jade even have the right to change her own future from the perspective of the people in 2017? Now that is a philosophical question and will be brought up by someone else in this chapter.

Layla: Those 'hints' as you call them serve a distinct story purpose: they are further insight to Dusty's character, particularly to being involved with Jade's story. It's all to further Jade's story. I'm glad you enjoyed them.

Jade asking that question is suppose to be sad because it's an obvious question to ask with what her relationship is to Dusty (especially since for her, it has been about a day since she had the conversation with him in Mister Gibbons' house) and what she's seen him do.

I don't want to spoil anything in 'WLEO' about those future pairings. Either could happen or neither.

PD31: Spencer is borderline eligible to be President due to his age. He'd be three days too young for the election, but old enough when they would swear him in. It would be funny, but not consistent even with this crazy universe.

Jeremy Shane: Thanks. I had heard that rumor too. You want to hear something funny? The actor they got to play their father is only six years older than Jerry Trainor.

Fanfiction-Reader-88: I felt that since this is mostly a dialogue driven story, there really isn't any need to continually drag out them talking to one another, but just getting to the point.

The Presidency in a lot of ways was the only thing left for Shay: his children were grown at that point, wife gone and Ruby was too afraid to be with him and his career was over (in their universe) when he was forced into retirement because of Benghazi (he was stationed in Italy at the time according to iGoodbye and I have him in Special Forces like Colonel Morgan).

About Carly and Freddie, I wanted to show that Jade had not completely failed in her plans with helping Freddie. If there wasn't at least some hope then the whole thing on her part is an exercise in futility. However, I don't want to reveal everything about Freddie with in the comments section. As a reader, not author, I'm not sure how mature Carly was on that front because as she admits, she would have had to deal with Tori.

Okay, on with the story.

Rating: T for brief harsh language and an act of violence.

Special Guest Appearance by Jennifer Connelly as Ruby Lynn West

* * *

Chapter 12

Vega Residence

A few moments later the pair reappeared in the Vega living room with the customary sound of rustling wind or soft flap of a bird's wings.

Jade took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment and Dusty dropped one of his bags and gently took Jade by her left elbow to steady her on her feet.

She opened her eyes and let out the breath then eyed him for a moment and muttered, "Do you get use to that?"

He playfully smiled in return. "If you mean does everyone else gets use to it, then yes they do, but hopefully you won't have to. Emergencies only, remember?"

"Right," she said dryly as she continued to regain her equilibrium.

Tori eagerly walked out of the kitchen and towards the pair with her hair up in a bun behind her head and her sleeves rolled up. She asked with an eager expression on her face, but strangely contrasting timid voice, "So you saw Carly?"

Jade nodded along and answered the concerned movie star, "Yeah… it was quite eye opening on a lot of things…"

Tori's lips turned into a slight pout as she hesitantly questioned, "Is that a good thing?"

"Yeah it is. I learned some things about some of Carly's true motivations and how things worked out between her and Freddie. I know I'm on the right track with him in that regard even if my Carly has finally gotten around to falling for him—"

Tori's eyes shot open in surprised. "Wait, Carly has a thing for Freddie?"

"That's an interesting twist to the story," Dusty idly commented.

"She _did_… or so she said she had them did during the time I broke up with Freddie."

Tori knotted her brow and questioned with a disbelieving tone as apparently the pieces were not fitting together in her head, "Then why didn't she try to get with Freddie when you broke up or during the summer after?"

"She says she didn't want to be his rebound relationship and she thought that you would stop her from taking advantage of the situation. I guess she realized how close you were to Freddie and was worried that you would stop her."

Tori looked down to the floor with a hint of embarrassment on her face. She muttered out, "I wouldn't have let her emotionally take advantage of him. I would have…"

Jade raised her pierced eyebrow and coyly asked, "Stopped her?"

She nodded along with her confident answer, "I would have stopped her."

"I appreciate it, but… how? How would you have stopped Carly?"

"I would…" She bowed her head and whispered, "I would have said yes to Freddie just to keep her away from him."

Dusty piped up in surprise, "Wait… when did he have a thing for you? He pined over Jade even if he didn't admit it for that what, nearly three months until graduation the way I remember it."

The lighter brunette looked to the floor and muttered out timidly, "It was about two or three weeks after Jade left and everyone knew Freddie and I were spending all that time together… and…"

He gave an understanding nod. "Emotions run high and you two were together, so one thing leads to another…"

Tori snapped her head up and pointed at her former schoolmate. "Nothing happened between us."

"I wasn't making a judgment Tori," he innocently retorted. "You could have given him comfort sex the entire time and no one would have said a thing." He looked to Jade, "But the rebound thing seems kind of a slap to you."

Jade gave him a confused expression while Tori looked back somewhat embarrassed by his comment about what she could have done with Freddie.

He shrugged a shoulder. "As I understand it, you two got together fairly quickly, so one could say that you two started… as a rebound relationship."

"Everyone thought that, but we knew the risks going in and we weren't declaring our undying love for one another. That's why New Years was so important: I was going to tell him I loved him like that for the first time after being together for a little more than five months and it turned out he was going to do the same, but the whole Nora thing interrupted us."

She took a deep breath then let it out slowly with a confident tone, "But none of that matters: what Carly feels or what could have happened between Freddie—" she motioned her head to Tori, "—and Tori, just that I need to find out from him if there was anything else that happened between us that no else knows about that could have caused me to leave him other than my anger and trust issues with Beck and thinking Freddie was siding against me."

Tori clapped her hands together and slightly bowed her head down while asking "So you're going to go see him?"

Jade smiled and gave a soft nod of her head. "I was always going to see him. I wanted to know everything else before speaking to him. The less surprises the better."

Dusty cracked a smile as he teased her, "And you said you've been making this up as you went along."

The pale teenager let out a soft laugh that quickly turned into a full blown relieving laugh of all the stress from the last day and a half. She finally calmed down after a few seconds to shared smiles from Tori and Dusty. She blew out a breath and looked to Tori to indicate noticing her putting her hair up and rolled up sleeves to ask, "What have you've been doing while we've been gone?"

Tori softly laughed, "I'm fixing lunch before she gets here instead of going out. I really don't want to discuss business in public."

Dusty looked on in curiosity as he realized that he was the outsider in the continuation of a previous conversation.

Jade snorted out with mild dismissiveness, "You're really trying to land that record deal? Home cooking? Just remember to drop Cat's name to Katie during your negotiations."

Dusty's brow furled and he curiously asked, "Katie? Katie Knight?"

The pale teenager questioned, "Yeah?"

Dusty laughed out, "So is little Katie's finally running that place?"

Jade gave the Southern teenager a perplexed expression. "You know her?"

He smirked and let out a soft chuckle, "She was my first ah… 'cases' after we graduated. It's an interesting story which I don't have time to tell. Now her family and that boy band really do live in a sitcom." He looked back to Tori and quickly pointed out, "You'll be in good hands if you sign with them. They really will care about you."

Jade slowly whispered out, "Right…"

Before she could ask anymore questions, a ringtone started sounding from her leather jacket pocket. She reached into her right pocket and pulled out her mother's phone to look at the number.

The movie actress curiously asked, "Who is it?"

She glanced to Tori for a brief moment as she answered, "I don't know. The number's block and it's my mom's phone. It could be someone trying to reach her." Underneath the display that was showing the number was that she had several new voice messages (which there was no way for her to check) that weren't in her inbox before she left for France.

She decided to answer the call and cautiously brought it to her ear. "Hello?"

"_Where are you? Mom's here demanding why I stole the Charger! Get your butt back here right now!"_

Jade pulled the phone away from her ear as her future shouted out in outrage and talking down to her as if she was her child.

"Jade?" Tori blinked at her own question then clarified, "I mean my Jade—the other Jade."

"Yeah. Apparently mom woke up and is over there wondering what happened to the Charger." The green streaked hair girl gave the demi-angel a curious expression.

"I told you that she would get a good night sleep, not knock her out for a few days… which I probably could have done, but then you run into the problem of her eating and using the bathroom in her pants."

Jade softly rolled her eyes then brought the phone back to her ear and shouted in return, "I got it. I'll be right there." She hit the end call button before the girl could shout anything else at her.

"Looks like I have to talk with mom anyway… and myself. Oh this should be fun," she finished with her near trademark tone. She looked to her two friends from a future time and announced, "I got to go… thanks, both of you, for all you've done for me. I'll see you later."

Dusty slightly bowed his head and gave her a questioning expression. "If you think I'm not going to go with you to explain what happen then you've really lost it."

She slightly frowned, but not really unhappy at seeing that she wasn't going to effectively ditch him. "Fine… I'll probably need you to explain what's going on anyway."

Dusty laughed while looking at Tori, "It's always nice to feel needed."

Jade West Residence  
Beverly Park  
Los Angeles, CA

The short drive was a pleasant one as the Charger pulled back into the driveway of the multimillion dollar home. Jade was quick to kill the ignition and exit the vehicle while Dusty was a little slower as he divided his attention to look over the expensive property.

Dusty shut the passenger door and idly commented, "Wow… I've seen some pictures online, but man… she did well… even with the outrageous taxes. She probably did the same thing I did…"

"She did well…" she responded with a sour tone.

"You know what I mean," he softly retorted.

She snorted out breath as she did understand what he meant then headed to the front door. As she reached it, she curiously asked, "What do you do?"

He answered flippantly as she grasped the door handle to enter, "Oh, I don't pay them."

She stopped midway through opening the door and gave her an incredulous expression.

He shrugged a shoulder and casually commented, "I don't believe in charity at the point of a gun… I call that stealing. I might pay them next year with the Colonel being President."

"Okay…" She turned to push the door completely open as she was willing to let it drop. Dusty dutifully followed behind then paused in the foyer to curiously look around the expansive exterior.

"Jade?!" the pale teenager called with an odd sense of absurdity with calling out to herself.

Her own voice shouted back impatiently from deeper inside the home, "We're in here!"

The pair made their way to the kitchen and Jade stopped in an instance seeing her future self and mother arguing with Jade next to the kitchen island while Mrs. West was standing a few feet in front of her. It looked like the musician was in the middle of an late brunch/early lunch as there were various foods on the island with a fork and a carving knife resting next to the food.

Mrs. West blinked as she looked to the girl that was her daughter five years ago. She was casually dressed in a long sleeve blue T-shirt with blue jeans and looked years younger than her chronological age as she always had aged well before hitting the bottle. She whispered out in disbelief, "Jade?"

The teenager gave her mother a hesitant smile to the lovely matriarch. "Hi mom."

The musician interrupted the reunion as she pointed to Dusty then out to the front door while shouting with complete and utter furry on her face, "Get the FUCK out of my house you damn abomination!"

Dusty smirked as he whispered, "It's good to see you too Angel Girl. You're looking… well you're really rocking the punk gothic look, but… when's the last time you've had a peaceful night sleep with out the drugs or alcohol in your system."

She crossed her arms under her chest and glared at her former friend then snarled out in disgust, "Don't you dare look inside me you half-breed freak." She looked towards her younger self and continued with her anger dripping off her voice, "I want him out of my house NOW!"

Of course the younger Jade wasn't intimidated at all by the bellowing musical star and answered with a calm voice, "It's my house too and he's welcome here."

The older girl growled out in frustration. "I don't want him here."

"I don't care."

The girls were about to get into a staring contest when Mrs. West spoke up hesitantly, "Jade?"

The longer haired teenager looked back to her mother and happily answered while taking her a few steps towards her, "Hi mom. It's really me… you look better."

"I feel better." She glanced towards the Southern teenager that kept pace next to the image of her little girl from years ago.

He slightly bowed his head and answered with a reverent tone, "You're welcome ma'am, but it's up to you not to go back to the bottle. I can't fix that emotional damage… that's Holy Ghost level intervention."

She nodded her head with an understanding smile then looked to her daughter's younger version. "You're…?"

"I'm Jade from five years ago. We just had the earthquake when I was out hanging with Cat, the night she was dog sitting. I had stopped to visit Ian to check on him and when I came home you and Freddie were still cleaning up. I went to bed with Freddie, but then I woke up here and you were… you were passed out drunk. I needed to figure out what was going on, so… I had to borrow your phone, computer, some money and the Charger…" She felt she needed to justify the last part, "…which is actually mine since the Freddie I know would want me to have it."

While the Hollywood Arts attempted to explain the circumstances of how she arrived and why her mother were missing those items from her home, the more heavily tattooed West eyed her former schoolmate as he slowly inched closer and wore an impassive expression on his face while looking back at her, possibly hoping the potential staring contest would distract her enough not to notice his approached.

Once the former Northridge student was in arms length of the future Jade, he lifted his right hand with his pointer and middle finger towards her forehead but the young woman was quicker as she reached backwards on the island and grabbed the handle of the carving knife resting on the kitchen island. In a flash, she pulled the knife off the island and swung around and downward, sending the blade into the left side of Dusty's chest until the top of the handle stopped at his chest. The sound of the milliseconds of leather being cut were instantly forgotten if anyone registered it as a sickening sound of the thin blade carving through skin and muscle and of the steel scraping bone as it slipped through between two ribs reverberated through out the room.

"Jade!" her younger self shouted in horror at seeing what her older self had done. Her mother looked just as horrified at seeing what her daughter had done and both were frozen in place from shock.

The musician clenched the handle of the blade and stared into Dusty's eyes with a strange sense of anger, frustration and sadness as her bottom lip slightly quivered while somehow he looked back in calmly and stood in his place.

He whispered out softly, "That's the second time you've put a knife in me… at least this time it was in the front instead of the back… and doesn't hurt as much."

The current Jade let go of the handle as if it was burning her as much as the metal sheet she had picked up years ago at Sikowitz when they had their improvisation sleepover and took a step or two back as she tried to keep her composure. As shocked as the younger Jade felt at watching the sight in front of her still had enough of her wits to see the mask slipping from her older self's true self: a frightened little girl.

"It's okay," Dusty whispered out in a calm voice to the younger West and her mother, but not taking his eyes off of his time's Jade as the carving knife was sticking in his chest and possibly through his heart. "Don't read too much into it. She knows she couldn't have really hurt me with it and she just wanted to take out her anger and frustration out on something and maybe I would do something to her she didn't like, so… why not take a stab at me? It's like poking a Voodoo Doll… without it actually hurting anyone."

He grabbed the handle and pulled the knife out of his chest. Once the blade was clear of his chest, he let go of the handle to let the kitchen utensil fall and clatter unto the floor. He took a calm breath as he gave his former friend a sympathetic gaze. "…and deep down she knows I won't hate her for it and that I still love her."

The shorter haired Jade looked down to avoid his eyes and whispered out, almost chocking on her words, "Dusty please… please leave…"

A soft flutter of air later, he was gone.

Jade and the present Mrs. West blinked in surprise as their respective brains tried to process that he was there one moment then gone the next.

The more heavily tattooed Jade turned and quickly headed out the other way of the kitchen as she clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Jade!" she called out to her older self, but she ignored her as she dashed towards the stairs.

The green streaked haired teenager followed her to the bottom stairs, but decided to follow her no further as the older girl reached the top of the steps. She turned to see that her mother had followed her and wore a worried expression.

"She just stabbed him," she stated the obvious as she obviously had a hard time in believing what she had just witnessed.

"And obviously he can take it…"

Ruby looked down and whispered in horror, "What has my little girl become…"

Jade took the one or two steps before reaching her mother and pulled her into a hug. Ruby instantly returned the hug as to her, she had not held her child in nearly five years. The pale teenager whispered, "It doesn't matter, I know what happened and I'm going to go back and fix everything."

The West Matriarch remained silent as she tightly held on to her daughter and blinked as her tears started flowing. "Okay, okay, whatever you say, but…" She let her go and cupped her cheeks and blue eyes met each other. "Even if you can't, just remember that I've always loved you my little Jadelyn. I have always loved you."

"I will mom… I will."

Mrs. West brought her daughter back into a hug and tried to hold back her tears. "I know mom… I'm sorry for what I did… what I'm _not_ going to do."

She let her go again and rested her hands on her daughter's shoulders. She blew out a breath then started wiping under her eyes. "Okay… okay."

They fell in peaceful silence as Mrs. West was just content to have her daughter back for a few minutes. Unfortunately, Jade had to break the contentment by softly whispering, "I'm sorry, but I need to go and talk to Freddie. I need to make sure I know everything I can before I go back… I can't lose him mom… I can't lose all of you."

Ruby gave her a soft kiss on the forehead. She whispered out, "You do what you have to do my baby."

"Can I ask a favor?"

"Anything."

"I'm keeping the Charger, but I need to keep borrowing your phone and your bank card in case I need it,"

The raven beauty snorted out a laugh, "I thought you were going to ask for something bigger."

"It's the small things that are counting right now."

"Okay."

Jade pulled away and started on her way to the door, but just as she was reaching it, her mother called out, "One last thing."

"Yeah mom."

She answered with a fearful voice, "Stay away from Mason, please. Please stay away from him. He will use you to make himself rich and not care one bit about you. He'll… he'll turn you into what's upstairs."

Jade shook her head and softly answered, "He didn't turn me into that… I turned myself into that, but I'll stay away from him anyway."

Mrs. West smiled at Jade taking her advice.

"Now take my advice: you call up Carly and arrange a date with Colonel—President Shay."

She looked down embarrassingly then a few moments later whispered out, "He wouldn't want a drunk."

"Do you think he's stopped loving you? You'd think being president would matter?"

Ruby thought for a moment then cracked a smile, "I'll think about it while I'll stay with her as long as she'll let me."

Jade smile to her mother one last time then opened the door and stepped out into the chilly midday. She opened the door to the black vehicle to slip into the driver's seat, but suddenly stopped and sucked in a breath and covered her eyes with her hand with a moment.

Dusty smiled to her from the passenger seat of the Charger.

She looked up and let out a soft breath through her nose then slipped into the driver's seat. She passed a quick glance to see that there was a light bloodstain on his leather jacket where the knife had passed through to reach his heart then looked out the front windshield and whispered, "Are you alright?"

He joined her gaze to look out of the front windshield towards the West home and answered calmly, "I'm okay. It was just a knife to the heart."

"It's not funny," she whispered out with a regretful tone in her voice. "I stabbed you _in the heart_."

"I know… so don't you dare tell Ava or she'll freak."

She shook her head and remained silent as she just looked out the windshield and held on to the steering wheel. "You said that was the second time I had stabbed you, what was the first time?"

"That's not important."

"Stabbing you isn't important?"

"You figuratively stabbed me in the back."

"Why? When? How?"

He slightly tilted his head to the right and whispered, "I'm not answering any of those questions."

"Why?"

"Because… that still needs to happen."

She turned to look at him and nearly demanded, "Not good enough."

He turned his head and looked her dead in the eyes and whispered with a surprisingly cold tone, "It's going to have to be. You worry about all the stuff you learn. The rest obviously will still work out if I'm still this way with you."

She stared at him for a few seconds, but realized that it was pointless to beat him in a staring contest. She huffed out a breath and relaxed into the driver's seat. She crossed her arms under her chest and just relaxed for a moment.

Dusty calmly asked, "So where are we going now?"

"_I'm_ going to go see Freddie. Hopefully I can catch him at lunch."

"He might think it's just a joke with you showing up. You know, some weird fan trying to play a joke on him."

"Maybe… that's what she thought I was when I first showed up until I showed her the Charger, but I need to face him by myself. Tori says that you two don't keep in contact, so he might be upset to see you."

He shrugged his shoulders. "We didn't leave on bad terms… just… he just cut us off. I guess he wanted to forget everybody and everything associated with you… why do you think you have Charger?"

"I broke his heart… I can understand that. I didn't want to deal with everyone else when I broke up with Beck."

A comfortable silence fell between the friends out of time then Jade looked to him with a hopeful smile. "I'll see you tomorrow? At her concert?"

He cracked a grin and jovially answered as he wasn't going to fight her on it, "Ava and I will be there, don't you worry."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome Angel Girl."

She let a soft laugh to his nickname for her then a fluttering sound filled the car. She held her smile as she turned her attention to starting the car and heading out to meet the boy she loved to set things right.

Pear Headquarters  
Infinite Loop  
Cupertino, California

Jade navigated the muscle car through the winding road of the Pear campus as she tried to find the particular building Freddie worked. She didn't know which particular office he worked, but it was public knowledge which division worked in which building through a little online digging. She could have contacted the present day Mrs. Benson in the hopes that she would know where he worked, but that was one conversation she wanted to avoid. Jade thought she was bad enough to deal with in her own time, least long deal with her future incarnation that would probably be even more upset with her.

She finally found some visitors' parking and brought the muscle car to a stop. She quickly exited the vehicle and took a calming breath as she looked up at the building to the multi-billion dollar juggernaut.

The pale actress put on an impassive expression and squared her shoulders as she tried to psyche herself up for a meeting she had no idea could turn out, but had no choice in having if she was going to fix all the mistakes she had seen her life had led.

She entered and looked around the meticulous lobby of the building and saw that for the most part it was quiet during the Monday early afternoon and figured most people were still at lunch. She made her way to the receptionist's desk and let out a surprisingly nervous breath when the lovely young woman looked up from her monitor.

The auburn haired woman gave her a perplex expression for a moment as if she recognized the woman and softly questioned, "May I help you?"

Jade asked with a forced casualness, "Yes, can I see Freddie Benson?"

The secretary blinked as apparently the question was enough for the young receptionist to confirm that she did recognize her as her future self. "Are you—"

Jade gave the young lady a friendly smile and nodded, "Yes I am… it's been a while and I'd like to surprise him if that's alright?"

She swallowed down nervously then whispered out in a fearful voice, "Mister Benson is… he doesn't take visitors… his mother isn't even on the list. He might have me fired if I let you in; he's… he's not very forgiving."

Jade pursed her lips and bowed her head. "I understand, but it's very important I see him and… could you give me a few minutes then call security to have me thrown out and say that I bullied passed you. He'll believe that."

The auburn haired woman glanced over to her right shoulders towards the elevators and around to see if anyone else was watching their conversation, but there were just a few people milling about.

She slipped a clipboard on top of the counter in front of Jade, but it had a blank piece of paper on top and whispered, "He's in lab three o' two on the third floor. Can I get an autograph? My niece really loves your music."

Jade took in a sharp breath then gave her a polite nod. She took the pen and took a moment to sign the slip of paper. She handed it back to the woman who immediately shouted to draw attention to the others in the lobby, "I'm sorry ma'am, but you can't see him." The young woman gave Jade a wink.

The Hollywood Arts student mouthed a thank you then headed off to the elevator. The receptionist was slow to call anyone and allowed Jade to get a free elevator and head to the third floor.

Jade quickly exited and looked around to see that security hadn't found her yet then headed down the hall to the research lab. She glanced to a small rectangular window and instantly recognized Freddie sitting on a stool at a workstation and typing away at a computer.

She pushed open the door and slowly approached him in the multimillion dollar equipped lab littered with workstation computers and other computer hardware that was near close to coming out of a sci-fi movie to her eyes.

He was so involved in his work and trying to eat his lunch at the same time, he failed to notice her until she was almost in arms length of him. She called out softly, "Freddie?"

The young man frowned at being interrupted and looked to his right to meet her eyes and shouted, "I'm busy, what do you—" He sat up straight in his seat and sucked in a breath at seeing the teenager.

She put on an impassive expression as she let him examine her for a moment to try to accept what he was viewing.

He whispered out in disbelief, "Jade?"

She let out a soft laugh, "Yeah, it's me… but from five years ago."

He frowned as his brow furled. "What?"

She slightly bowed her head and answered, "I know it's crazy, but it is me. We think it might be Anna who did it."

He quickly put on a disbelieving expression and flippantly questioned, "Who's Anna?"

Jade slightly frowned then retorted and pointed to his left leg, "The angel that pulled those pieces of metal out of your leg. I don't have time to play games Freddie. It's me. I went to bed with you after coming back from hanging with Cat during the earthquake in January of twenty-twelve. I woke up in the same bed, here, five years in the future for me."

He slightly frowned and glanced away at seeing that playing dumb to debunk her story from the start had failed.

"I'm not some crazy fan or some impersonator she thought. I've talked to everyone else except for Robbie and André and they believe me… Dusty knew I wasn't future me in an instance… I even have your Charger outside."

Freddie jumped up from his seat to look out through the blinds and fortunately the room was facing the front parking lot and he instantly picked up seeing the black Dodge Charger parked in the visitors' parking lot.

He turned his head to look back to the teenager and retorted, "That doesn't prove anything. You could have bought the same car and painted it black and even if you're not Jade, you could just be Heather Fox."

"I'm not her." Jade pulled up her right sleeve to show off her nautical tattoo on her inner forearm. "It's a real tattoo and I know she doesn't have it."

Freddie snorted out, "You could have gotten it too for being a fan. Her tattoos are well known."

Jade snapped back, "Yeah, but do they know the meaning behind the star one?"

He confidently answered, "She just wanted to be rebellious to her mother."

She gave him a soft smirk and shook her head as she rolled the leather sleeve down. "You know the truth… you never asked me why I had one. I think you didn't want to pry. You told your mom that it and the piercings were just a part of me you accepted without question, but I told you just before we went to my grandparents for Thanksgiving: I got it to honor my grandfather's service when he was in the Army and the dark pink was originally going to be purple to represent his purple heart for what he sacrificed during the war and for cancer awareness, but—"

"Your skin is so pale that the color didn't set right… Jade?" he finished in a disbelieving whisper.

She nodded her head.

He breathed out in disbelief, "Why are you here?"

"I wanted to find out from you why we're going to break up."

He softly shook his head. "No, I mean why did she drop you here?"

"Probably the same reason I just told you."

"Probably? What did she tell you? What did Anna tell you?"

"Nothing."

"What do you mean nothing?"

"Nothing, I haven't seen her."

His brow knotted up as he questioned in an almost accusing tone, "Then how do you even know it's her? What did Dusty tell you? Do you know about Dusty?"

"Yes, quiet dramatically… he healed my mom."

He put on a genuinely concerned expression as he asked, "What's wrong with your mom?"

"She was drinking herself literally to death… it was her way of dealing with everyone leaving her… including me, it's not going to happen. I'm going to fix everything when I get back, so… why did we break up. I got an idea from my future self, but I need to know from you so I can fix it."

He crossed his still muscular arms (from what she could tell under his white lab coat) and gave her a cold stare. "Who says I want it fixed? Who says I want to get back with you?"

She tilted her head slightly to the side and sarcastically answered, "She said the same thing… she wanted me to dump you as soon as I got back so you couldn't hold her back as you and the others wanted to do to her… she wanted me to tell you to 'go fuck yourself' when I saw you. She's obviously quite mad at you."

Freddie clenched his jaw tightly and bowed his head for a moment. He looked back up to her and stared her straight in the eyes and whispered with a cold tone, "If you love me… then you'll listen to her. The first thing you do when you get back is to let me go so I can be happy. So you and your memory won't drag me down from being happy."

Jade sucked in a sharp breath as she saw the cold stare in Freddie's eyes. She angrily snapped back, "How do I do that? How do I just let you go out that door without a fight? How can you ask me to be Carly? Because that is exactly what you are asking me to do: walk out on you."

"You're going to walk out on us anyway!" He took several deep breaths in order to attempt to calm his nerves.

She slightly bowed her head and whispered in return, "And look what happened… you're this angry bitter man whose staff is afraid of you."

The computer engineer took a breath and looked to the floor.

The pale teenager shook her head and started walking around the lab while he retook his seat at the computer station. She reached the back of the lab to where his office desk was set up as apparently he didn't have a separate office from the lab. She walked behind his desk and eyes shot open as she noticed a framed picture.

She whispered out, "Are you going to tell me why I walked out on you?"

He looked slightly over his right shoulder and slightly turned in his swiveling seat and answered with a melancholy tone, "You walked out on me because you were an anger, jealous and paranoid girl who thought everyone including me was turning on you and wanted to ruining your chances at your dreams. You never got over Beck betraying you and it colored every other relationship you had… that's why you thought I was picking Tori over you when I thought it was wrong for what Mason did to Tori about the Platinum Music Awards. I guess you got sick of me picking morality over you… I guess you weren't much different than Carly when she was a teenager after all: chuck what I think is right so you can get your way. I assume you know about what happened with the awards?"

Jade took a deep breath and muttered out, "Yes I do." She continued with a hint of fear in her voice, "Do you hate me?"

Freddie completely swiveled in her seat to face her and answer with a tired voice, "No, I don't hate you, but… I don't want your memory haunting me. I have enough of that in my life. I just want to be able to move on… so just let me go. Find some excuse to make it believable or just tell me the truth: you can't accept me for who I am."

"If you wanted to forget about me so much then why are you still in L.A.? There wasn't anyplace else in the country you could have gone and still worked for the Pear Company? Why do you have a picture of me during our last Halloween dressed up as an angel?"

He tilted his head slightly to the side and whispered out with a cool, defensive tone, "It's just a keepsake picture."

She softly challenged, "Then where are the pictures of everyone else?"

Freddie turned away from her to look back at his workstation.

Jade let out a tired breath and closed her eyes. She walked back around the desk towards him and stopped to stand beside him. He tried his best to ignore her and focus on the design he was working on being displayed on the screen.

"I've talked to nearly everyone else except André and Robbie and invited them to her last show of her tour tomorrow night at the Boomerang Theater. You're welcome to come… let her know that people do care about her… because she's an absolute mess: she's abusing alcohol and prescription drugs and just janking anyone she can to try to fill the hole in her heart with you gone including Beck's old friend Moose."

A twinge of hope went through her as she saw him flinch ever so slightly at hearing the part about her sleeping around.

She palmed her hand on his left shoulder and whispered, "Maybe you can save me like I saved you. Be my angel to pull me out of Hell?"

Freddie bowed his head slightly and remained silent.

After a few moments, she dropped her hand away from his shoulder.

The doors to the lab opened and two security guards hurried inside. The lead one asked while eyeing the teenager, "Is there a problem Mister Benson?"

The Pear employee whispered out, "No, there's no problem… just a misunderstanding… Miss West was just leaving. Please make sure she safely makes it to her car. I don't want anyone to bother her and if any paparazzi try to harass her, break their cameras and if they become aggressive, break them."

The guards looked to one another confused by the young mans instructions, but didn't question them as the lead one answered, "Yes sir."

Jade leaned down and kissed him on the cheek then whispered into his ear, "I love you Freddie Benson and maybe you still love me… "

She stood up and headed out the door leaving a brooding young man to try to focus back on his work in futility.

* * *

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter especially with Jade/Freddie part. It was a lot tougher than one might think in wanting to meet people's expectations.

I also hoped you like my explanation to her nautical tattoo as I've read other theories as to the reasoning behind it and thought I'd put my two cents in it that fit with the canon (her grandfather was a soldier from the Diddly Bops) and Elizabeth's own support for cancer awareness.

We are entering the home stretch for this story with about two chapters to go until completion. Hopefully the next update will be by next Friday or maybe even sooner. Have a nice weekend.


	13. Chapter 13

Hello everyone. I'm a little early for an update to this, but my final chapter before the epilogue turned out to have more story t to tell than I originally anticipated, so I needed to divide it up. The first half is here and I will be updating the second half on Friday long with hopefully 'We Love Each Other'.

For reviews, I believe I have personally responded to everyone except for Fanfic-Reader-88 and green aura. I will be PMing you by late tomorrow to answer your reviews because I appreciate them and you taking the time to write them. Sorry I haven't responded sooner.

On with the story, rating T for Language

* * *

Chapter 13

Jade West Residence  
Beverly Park  
Los Angeles, CA

Jade pulled the Charger into the driveway and immediately noticed that her mother's vehicle was gone. The garage doors were closed, so she didn't know if her mother had been allowed to pull her car inside or she had left. She turned off the ignition and quickly stepped out of the vehicle to head to the front door.

Jade tried the door handle, but found that this time the door was locked. She figured that her older self must have left it unlock earlier knowing that she was on her way to deal with their mother. She blew out a breath and tapped the door bell button.

About a minute or so later, the beige highlighted brunette opened the door and let out a tired breath at seeing her younger self. She whispered with a bit of disgust, "You're back?"

The teenager shrugged her shoulders as she stepped passed the irritated musician and flippantly answered, "I haven't snapped back yet to my own time." As Jade walked passed the foyer and into the living room, she glanced around and questioned, "Where's mom?"

The older girl rolled her eyes as she shut the door behind her and muttered out, "She went home. I guess she got tired of looking at my bedroom door or maybe she wanted to get home before happy hour."

Jade snapped around and retorted with a cold tone, "Yes, make fun of our mother's drinking problem that you're partially responsible for."

The shorter haired Jade stomped to the teenager and snapped back with a vicious tone, "Don't you dare blame me for her crawling into a bottle and wanting to die!"

Jade narrowed her gaze and whispered out coldly, "She's lost her child; not by accident or some sickness, but by you walking away from her. That'll kill any parent that loves their child."

The award winning musician growled at her then turned away and headed for the kitchen. Jade wasn't going to just let her walk away as she did her other problems, so the teenager was right on her heels.

She pulled a beer out of the refrigerator then took out some of her frustration with her younger self on the stainless steel door by slamming it shut.

She popped the top of the bottle while Jade mocked, "Now who's hitting the bottle?"

The older girl smirked in return as she retorted, "At least I can get out of bed on my own."

The green streaked hair girl suppressed a laugh while responding, "When did you actually wake up this morning? You skipped breakfast and I didn't leave until ten."

She leaned against the refrigerator and snapped back, "I work hard and at night even when I'm not touring. You can't blame me for sleeping in."

Jade leaned against the kitchen island and crossed her arms. "We still do our best writing at night?"

"Yeah, _I_ do."

The teenager slightly tilted her head to the side and softly mocked, "You're good, but you could cut back on the emo stuff."

"Emo?!" the older girl shouted in outrage. "I do not write emo shit and I won't perform it!"

"I listened to your stuff last night. It's good, but some of it wanted me to cut myself—literally. Great message you're sending to fans… then there's the heartbreak over Freddie. You sounded like old Alanis Morissette with your whining."

"There's nothing about Freddie in my songs!"

"I'm not a fan you can bull-chizz over. I know when you're talking about Freddie."

The musician took another sip from her beer instead of retorting to her younger self.

Jade shook her head and took the opportunity to continue, "Speaking of Freddie, I saw him."

The shorter haired girl rolled her eyes and asked with what sounded like forced indifference, "You tell him what I told you?"

"Yes. I don't think it had the effect you wanted it to have on him. You can't hurt him anymore than you already have, so it was pointless, but I think there is something you should know about him that I picked up."

She mockingly laughed her younger self, "Oh what could that possibly be?"

"He still loves you."

The older girl narrowed her gaze and lost her smile. She whispered out with a bit of denial in her voice if Jade was picking up the tone correctly, "He didn't tell you that."

"No he didn't. He wants me to go back and break up with him as soon as I can to spare him the pain of losing you the way he did."

The older West pushed off of the refrigerator and shouted, "Then listen to him! He's telling you the same thing I have! Drop them now before they can even attempt to drag you down!"

Jade let her older self take a moment to calm down as she noticed the girl was breathing heavier than she should even with that outburst. The teenager finally whispered, "He may have said that, but the picture of me as an angel during Halloween on his desk tells me that he still loves you."

The pale young woman blinked then narrowed her gaze on the teenager. "What?"

"He has a picture of you, but has no other pictures of them, just you. For a guy that claims that he wants to let you go so he can be happy, he makes sure he keeps a picture of you for him to see every day at work." She took a step forward and whispered with a hopeful tone, "He still loves you. You can still fix things with him. I know it. Just tell him that you need him and I know he will be here for you. You can still be happy with one another."

The young woman cradled her beer in her hands and bowed her head. She desperately tried to clear her throat as she whispered, "You can't wash away five years of…" She growled out her frustration then looked up at her younger counterpart. She shouted in disgust, "All they're doing is brainwashing you and he's manipulating you the same way."

Jade's shoulders slumped and let out a tired breath as she couldn't even look at herself. "Freddie said you had become paranoid… I didn't realize how true that is."

"Oh he did? I'm paranoid? He can say that nonsense, but I was right about them! They left me and now they're trying to fuck me over with filling your head with all that shit about them actually caring about you when they couldn't screw me the first time around."

Jade blew out a breath in disgust. "Can you even think straight with the medications you're on? Have you read the side effects on the one you're taking for your 'narcolepsy'? I've read them and seen some of them from you: your anger will slap anyone in the face talking to you and you just might do it literally. I haven't seen you eat much, so you have an appetite loss. It's probably giving you your depression and that's why you need the other drug… besides you just cutting everyone out of your life and all alone except for your boytoy… you have him because it's ramping up your sex drive too." She shook her head then gave an ironic laugh, "At least you haven't gotten to the point of psychosis."

"Oh don't you dare go Mrs. Benson on me! Don't try to diagnosis me with anything."

Jade threw up her hand and answered flippantly, "Fine, there's nothing wrong with you, you're just a spoiled rotten gank who thinks because she's big music star that it's alright to keep her head shoved up her ass!"

Older Jade clenched her jaw tightly and softly growled. She was about the shout back when the doorbell rang. The more heavily tattooed Jade sighed out an irritated breath and headed for the door. Jade followed her a second or so later to see that she was looking through the window and let out a regretful breath.

The older girl balanced her beer in one hand and opened the door with another to reveal Mason giving the musician a broad smile.

"Hello my dear," he greeted his musician with a warm tone.

She dryly responded, "Hello Mason."

The graying producer immediately gave her a concerned expression and questioned, "What's wrong?"

She looked over her left shoulder and gave the teenager a frown as she answered, "Just a little family disagreement."

Mason looked to the younger Jade with a disapproving expression. "We've had the problem before haven't we?"

Jade frowned as she used that as confirmation that he was probably a driving force behind her older self to get her emancipated from her mother after the PMAs. The music producer and the teenager stared at each for a few moments without either looking like the other would give an inch.

The musician looked back and forth between the pair for a moment and slightly frowned. She looked to Mason and asked with an impatient tone, "What's up with the visit? I thought we'd see each other tomorrow before the show?"

The older man broke eye contact with Jade and looked to his moneymaker. He took only the briefest of moments to put a smile back on his face then stated with a surprisingly happy tone, "I just wanted to check on you. I was a little curious in knowing if you had decided you wanted the part in the movie. I thought you'd call me yesterday after your meeting with Tori."

She deeply frowned and nearly spat out, "I'm not going to do the movie."

Mason blew out a disappointing breath and regretfully shook his head. He looked back to his musician and slightly tilted his head down and gave her a look as if he was a disappointed father. "Jade…"

Jade smirked and answered for her older self, "She's just being stubborn. I think she should do it."

Mason gave her a charming smile and apparently thought that the disagreement that the girls were having were over whether his musician should be in the movie, so the potential problem he saw (like he did years earlier with Jade's mother) the girl could be, instantly turned around not to be the case and instead was still the valued ally he'd hope for in getting the older Jade to accept the part.

He stated with a false sense of happiness, "I hope you reconsider Jade. Your cousin does have a point."

The pale young woman seemed to come to the conclusion that Mason must have assumed that she was arguing with her 'cousin' over doing the movie. At the moment she had no intention of correcting him or knew of any way to correct him as the truth could have her committed. She gave him a deep frown as she crossed her arms under her chest and muttered out in the hopes of getting rid of him, "I'll think about it… just make sure they keep the deal sweet if they really want me and make sure they don't cheat you out of anything."

Mason let out a laugh, "And here I thought I was looking out for you, still surprising me after all these years Jade. Well, I'll leave you two alone and let you get back to your relaxation and family time. I'll see both of you tomorrow before the concert." He turned and left just as unceremoniously as he had arrived.

Once the door was shut and Jade was confident that he was far away from the door not to hear her, she commented, "Mom said I should stay away from him."

The in time Jade kept her back to her younger counterpart as she responded with a flippant, but soft tone, "Of course she did; another one that wants to stop me from making it big." She turned to completely face the younger West and slowly explained, "I've been through this with you: I'm using him just as much as he's using me. That's how the whole talent/manager/producer thing works. We make money off of each other."

"But it just cost you everything… including the man you loved."

The young woman bowed her head and clenched her jaw tightly. She walked passed her younger self without a word and headed further into the house and turned down the hall towards the direction of the music room.

The early afternoon rolled into late afternoon and into early evening with the older Jade staying in the music room for the entire time while the girl out of time explored the rest of the home and took a few minutes to clean up the kitchen floor where Dusty had drop the bloody knife he had pulled out of his chest then washed the utensil. Afterwards, she continued to spoil herself in more ways than one with watching movies and shows that hadn't been released in her time from the OnDemand cable package. She found one show that hadn't been created yet in her time quite fascinating about two brothers on a constant road trip hunting monsters and other urban legends. She nearly spat out the drink she was sipping on when she saw the creator credits and realized what her older self must have meant by when she said that Ava was just living off of her boyfriend.

The musician finally exited the room to grab something from the kitchen and retreat to her room at about nine that evening without even acknowledging her younger self in the living room.

The dark brunette was not going to be ignored, so she (regretfully so since it was so comfortable) got out of the stadium seat in the living room and headed up the stairs to the master bedroom.

She waited just passed the threshold of the bedroom for a moment to watch her older self nibble on some food while she continued to write on her notepad with the TV on, but the volume turned down.

The shorter haired young woman looked over the top of her notepad and slightly frowned at seeing the teenager. "What do you want?"

"I don't want you to be alone."

She rolled her eyes for a moment then glared at her younger self. "I like being alone and so do you."

Jade smirked as she replied, "You're right, I do for the most part, but technically you are alone since I'm you. We're truly alone together."

The heavier tattooed girl closed her eyes for a moment then turned back to her notepad to write down a stray lyric in her head.

Jade took a seat on the other side of the bed next to the brooding musician. She looked towards the TV while the other continued to write.

Jade broke the near silence with a simple question, "How's Ian?"

Twenty-something Jade looked up from her notepad and gave a slight frown.

"I found his bracelet he made for you." She held up her wrist to show it off. "You kept it with a picture of him on your vanity, so I know you still care about him."

When her older self didn't respond, Jade grew concern and asked with a sharp tone, "You still care about him, right? There's nothing he could have done to you to turn on him. What is he now? Nine? What could a nine year old possibly do to you?"

The pale dark brunette teenager was surprised with the softness coming from her older self as she whispered, "He's nine… he's fine. I…"

"You what?"

She snapped with a sharp tone, "_He's fine_. I make sure he's alright." The shorter haired girl took a calming breath and continued, "I see him on his birthday and holidays and I make sure that he'll be provided for if dad and his mom suddenly decide they don't love him like he did m—I'll sue them for custody in a heartbeat if they try that and buy off anyone I have to to make it happen. I make sure he's protected from any nutty paparazzi or anyone that think that they can make any cash off him."

The eyebrow pierced teenager let out a whistle as she was surprised with that level of concern she had to her _step_brother especially with how she had treated her blood.

"How?"

She rolled her eyes then answered her as if she was a child, "With bodyguards from the agency that provides mine."

Jade slightly frowned in confusion. "He has a security detail?"

"Not exactly. Two ore three keep an eye on him from a distance… professional ones that know how to do that sort of thing, not some rent a cop. I don't want him to feel ostracized and I don't want to hear shit from my dad over it."

Jade looked back to the television and idly commented, "I haven't seen any of your bodyguards."

"Because we haven't went anywhere where I'd need them. It's a gated community so I don't need them at the house. If I want to go out, they're just a phone call away to get here before I go. They'll be with us when we leave tomorrow for the Boomerang Theater. That's when we'll really need them to keep the kooks, overzealous fans and paparazzi away from us."

The green streaked hair girl bowed her head and muttered out, "At least that's one person you still love."

The older girl remained silent on that point then looked back to her pad.

"How's dad?"

She glanced away from her pad in irritation towards Jade, who quickly followed up, "You have to know that if you're seeing Ian."

"Same old, same old. He's still disappointed in me and hates the piercings, but even he has to acknowledge my success."

"You have less then I do… at least visibly," the brunette commented as she recalled what she had saw of herself walking in on her and Moose's 'fun'. Jade put on a look of horror as she commented, "He can't know about that one."

"No he doesn't, but he still doesn't like the facial one."

The pair fell back into silence as older Jade continued to scribble on her pad and teenage Jade looked to the television. The younger West broke the silence between them once again with another question, "Are you feeling better?"

"We've been through this, there's nothing wrong with me."

"So I just imagined that you were ready to break down after stabbing Dusty?"

She snorted out flippantly, "Yes you did. I should have aimed for his throat. Maybe that would have put him down."

Jade softly bit her bottom lip and shook her head. "You know your lying doesn't work on me, so I guess you're trying to convince yourself that nothing is wrong." She sarcastically laughed as she continued, "No, nothing wrong in stabbing my friend… that's perfectly natural instead of getting arrested and maybe being put in a psych ward to get your head examined."

Older Jade took a deep breath and ignored the barb.

"Okay, so stabbing him didn't upset you, so… it must be because he wasn't upset with you over it and telling you he still loved you? Is that what it was? You can't handle the fact that people still love you?"

She dropped the pad in her lap and gave Jade a cold stare for a few moments, but the teenager could see the slight cracks in the impassive façade she was giving her. She whispered out softly and with a sense of finality to the conversation, "Ian loves me."

The musician turned back to her pad and remained silent and refused to get into any more verbal matches with the teenager. Eventually, older Jade sat her notepad on the neighboring nightstand and turned off the TV, giving the blatant hint to Jade that she was ready to go to bed. The teenager gave her a respectful nod in understanding then surprised her with a goodnight hug. She scooted off the bed then headed off to her own room to call it a night.

Once she was out of the room, future Jade got up from her spot on the bed and walked over to her vanity. She took a seat then pulled out the picture of Ian sticking in the side of the vanity between the trim and mirror. She just sat and looked at the picture.

Jade West Residence  
Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Jade was surprised when her older self was the one to wake her up the next morning and tell her to rise and shine and get downstairs to eat breakfast before they had to leave in an hour. She wondered briefly if this is how other people saw her in being 'bossy' as she was getting dressed after eating a surprisingly pleasant breakfast with the older girl as she explained how the day was going to go before the concert tonight.

"Are you ready to go?!" she could hear out of the room and down the stairs as the musician was obviously annoyed that she had to wait on the teenager.

"Yes!" Jade called out as she pulled on her leather jacket and slipped her mother's phone into her pocket then trotted down the stairs. She was able to find another Penny-T that she didn't recognize from the pile she had grabbed from her room, but put it on anyway (the tag line on it was 'Friend Me') and another pair of jeans to go along with the black leather jacket.

She wasn't surprised as she reached the bottom of the steps to see that her older self was wearing a low cut purple top that showed off a good portion of the skull tattoo on her left breast and a pair of tight black leather pants. "Took you long enough."

"Hey, you're the one that waited to the last minute to get me up. I didn't know we had to go this early."

"Price for being a rock star," she confidently retorted then led the teenager to the front door.

The pair of the same person exited the front door to see a limo waiting with the chauffeur opening the back passenger door on the driver's side with a muscular well dressed man standing on the right side of the door who Jade assumed was a bodyguard.

"I still want you to see what you could give up with your foolish notion of trying to fix something that's not broken."

Jade answered without a doubt, "You're broken."

She snorted out a breath. "Then enjoy the high life for a few hours then tell me that again." She motioned towards the car and Jade reluctantly went ahead of her to get into the limo.

* * *

Author's Note: I hope that was one last bit of insight for the Jades before Friday's update which of course is the concert and wrapping up the story. See you later.


	14. Chapter 14

Hello everyone. I hope you are having a nice Thursday night/Friday.

I'm behind on responding to reviews and I'm sorry. I'll get to them as soon as I can and hope you don't mind if I skip my usual in chapter responses because I want to get this chapter up for everyone. I do read them and very grateful for you taking the time to write them.

For this chapter, Rating: M for Heavy Adult Content (I'm giving you fair warning on this part), Implied Violence, Depiction of Drug Use, Dialogue describing disturbing content/potential trigger words (I'm really warning you about this part).

On with the story.

* * *

Chapter 14

Boomerang Theater  
1111 South Figueroa Street  
Los Angeles, CA  
Tuesday, January 31, 2017

The last concert of the tour was mere hours away and the theater was abuzz with activity to make sure everything would be ready for the sold out show. The stage was being set up and torn down and re-set up as Jade sat in one of the auditorium seats and watched as her older self practiced and ran through with her back up musicians and performers literally her whole performance for tonight.

She could see that her older self took her job seriously with the effort she was putting in for the one last rehearsal, especially with the fact that she was actually sweating and looked like she was near the point of collapse several times as she poured her heart out into the songs. She also saw how she instructed the rest to make sure they hit their marks during the performance. She was actually surprised at how little vitriol she directed at them when they were off or messed up, but actually corrected them in a helpful manner.

When they first arrived some of the backup performers and singers gave Jade some questioning looks, but older Jade quickly put that to a stop by explaining she was her younger cousin and that they should drop the matter. Fortunately, they had enough sense not to argue with their boss and just get back to rehearsals. Jade took the opportunity of her older self's intimidation (and behind her back) to make sure to let security know to let the others backstage when they arrived for the show.

As she continued to watch the rehearsal, she couldn't tell if it was Mason's idea or her older self's, but she could see the theatrical influence of Pink and how the stage arrangement was set up and changed throughout the rehearsals. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing as even after two days of spending hours online trying to get familiar with the world, she was still not up to speed of the musical tastes of the culture at the moment. However, she leaned on the side that it must be popular since the tour was such a success and this one was sold out.

Whether or not it was popular now, she was impressed with the dry run through it and she would have paid to see the show if it was in her time. She couldn't deny how well her future self could perform and saw the one positive thing she saw about what she could become in the future.

A few minutes later, the shorter hair Jade finished her last song for the show then took the time to thank the back up band before heading off stage.

She was chugging a bottle of water as Jade caught up to her backstage and asked with blatant concern, "Are you alright?"

Future Jade pulled the plastic water bottle from her lips and frowned and nearly snapped, "Why do you keep on asking that?"

The green streaked hair teenager smirked as she gave a soft, but caring sarcastic response, "This time is because you look like you're going to drop and you're sweating—sweating. When did we start to do that?"

She took a few more breaths then continued, "I know it's still gross, but when you put as much as I do in a show, it happens. One of the downsides of the job. I was going to go rest and relax for a bit, grab something to eat and maybe a nap if it makes you feel any better." She motioned in the direction she was heading before Jade caught her and finished, "I suggest you grab something to eat off the spread in the next room before the show; it's going to be a long night before the after party. You should enjoy it and you can grab the food labeled for me." She turned and walked away under labored breath as she headed for her dressing room without another word.

"Thanks," Jade muttered out as she watched her future self walk off.

Jade West's Private Dressing Room

The shorter haired Jade bit her bottom lip and clenched her jaw tightly to suppress her soft grunts as she wrapped her arms around Moose's bare muscular shoulders as she rode him. The last thing she needed was someone to walk in and interrupt her last minute fun before the concert from her shouting (even if for some reason she couldn't place, it wasn't as an enjoyable experience as usual).

Moose had his back to the dressing mirror, so she was looking herself in the mirror while one of his strong hands held her bare hip while another ran over her black bra covered back, clawing at trying to unhook it and release her so he could have a taste of her before they finished. Instead of her face reflecting the less than usual pleasure she was getting with him hitting all the right spots inside her, she was frowning as her cold blue eyes reflected back on her. She wrapped her arms tighter around his shoulders as she continued to stare at her reflection.

The muscular shoulders and the hands gripping her hip and roaming over her body reminded her of another with a similar build yet far gentler touch. The more she looked at her reflection, the more it somehow seemed to change. Her eyes saw her hair turn darker and her piercing disappear. The back of Moose's head turned from sandy blonde to a rich brunette color and a soft smile formed on her face with her mind drifting to a memory…

Her movement was slower as she set the pace with a strong pair of hands that could easily hurt her, but held her as if she was the most precious creature in the world and touch radiated protection as one rested on her hip and the other between her shoulder blades to make her feel safe and wanted and all the other feelings that they shared for one another but neither could verbalize at the moment.

His lips left butterfly kisses on her right collar bone trying to heighten her enjoyment and purge the memory of the brief, but sharp pain of when they started and replace it with nothing but pleasure and contentment from their act of knowing one another. His lips trailed up her neck then stopped over her right ear and whispered as if the words he uttered were sacred, "Jade—"

"—I'm getting close," Moose's rough voice called out.

She blinked as for a moment her brain couldn't comprehend the change in voice, but then realized that the young man holding her wasn't the brown eyed boy she had shared this act with five and a half years ago in a hotel room far from his home. She blinked again as she felt a tear roll down between her pale cheek and her nose. She took a sharp breath from the realization then frowned as she dismissively commented as she was ready for him to finish and get out, "You're wearing a condom."

He frowned as he apparently didn't particularly like that answer, but didn't complain as his other hand grabbed her other hip and together gripped her hips so tightly that is fingers threatened to leave marks on her pale, unblemished skin and pulled her down forcefully against him. A few grunts later he finished then a few scant moments later, she quickly stepped off of his lap. She grabbed his jeans off the floor and tossed them behind her onto his lap to cover him as she went straight to pick up her clothes.

Moose wore a goofy grin as he eyed Jade's mostly bare back and very bare behind as she pulled on her panties then her leather pants on, giving him a nice show as she pulled the leather pants over her thong clad behind.

She mumbled out as buttoned up and zipped up her pants, "I told you I would make it up to you."

He cleared his throat as he held his jeans in his lap as he didn't want to miss the mini-show of watching her get dressed. "You certainly did… we're still going to get hamburgers after the show, right?"

She rolled her eyes as she pulled her shirt over her head and pulled it down over her abdomen then ran her hands through her short hair. She turned her head just enough to spare a look over her right shoulder to appease him, "We'll see."

She grabbed her prescription bottle off her dressing room vanity then poured three or four pills into her palm then placed her hand over her open mouth and threw her head back to swallow them. She grabbed a plastic bottle of water off the table then took a swig from it to wash them down.

He slightly frowned and questioned with a hint of concern, "What's with the pills?

She shrugged a shoulder and remarked, "You know… just a little pick-me-up to get me through the show."

He laughed, "I thought I was your pick up?"

She kept her back turned to him and rolled her eyes.

* * *

Jade had taken her older self up on the offer and spent the last few hours to enjoy the prepared food spread table with no one questioning her about taking food off the trays specifically marked for Jade West and took the time to speak with some of the backup band members and performers. She was impressed with a number of them during the rehearsal and wanted to find out who they were so when she made it big, she could find them to be her backup. She figured she was still going to make it big one day and she literally had all this great talent staring her in the face, so why not take it for future reference and save her the trouble of extensive auditioning?

The show was just under half an hour away from starting and the majority of the audience had already taken their seats while Jade loitered off to the side of the stage that unknown to her was the same area she had (or just might in the future from her point of view) finish getting ready to perform dressed up in her own words 'an idiot' which Tori would later try to reassure her that at least she was a 'pretty pink idiot'.

As she waited, the teenager started feeling pretty anxious as everyone else but the ones she wanted to show up had already arrived and her future self had still not made an appearance. Her loitering soon turned into pacing as she hadn't been this anxious since waiting on her father to show up to see her play 'Well Wishes' and she didn't like the feeling anymore than she did nearly a year ago.

A comforting voice called out behind her as she stopped to look at a convenient makeup table with mirror at a dividing wall to the rest of the backstage, "It looks like someone is freaking out a little bit and you're not the one even going out on stage… yet."

She immediately turned around to see Tori giving her a comforting smile with Beck on her arm.

"Hey," she greeted them with a warm greeting that surprised even herself. She cleared her throat and whispered, "Glad you could make it."

Tori walked over and hugged the teenager. Jade let out a tired breath as Tori thought she could freely hug. Why she thought Tori could do it now was beyond her comprehension at the moment, but she wasn't going to complain.

The lighter brunette pulled back and happily replied, "We wouldn't have missed."

The long haired actor took his turn to hug his ex-girlfriend. She blinked as Beck gave her the hug and realized that this was the first time they had really touched each other since she started dating Freddie other than the time he attempted to drag her to the janitor's closet and Dusty had to put him on the floor.

He added with an awkward and a hint of an apologetic smile, "Yeah… for some of us it's our chance to make up for past mistakes."

"And my chance to stop some before they happen… when I get back, I'm gonna… I'm going to fix things between us, okay? I'm going to set things right."

Beck gave her a relieving smile. "Thanks Jade."

She gave him a bashful smile she hadn't given to him in a while then Tori asked with a concerned tone, "You doing okay though?"

Jade gave her a tired smile as she answered, "Yeah… I'm still here for some reason. I was hoping maybe I'd go back after talking to Freddie. Maybe I need to talk to Robbie and André? Maybe I need to see my dad and Ian. I can't go back until I talk to everyone? I'm just guessing at this point."

The actress confidently smiled and stated completely sure of herself, "Then the first thing tomorrow morning is to get them on the phone and talk to them."

"They might freak."

"Probably, but… it'll be fine."

The dark brunette snorted out a laugh at hearing the never changing confidence her rival had maintained over the years.

Tori looked around the preparation going on backstage for the show was becoming more chaotic as time for the show to start drew closer and casually commented to the pale teenager, "Where's Jade? I mean—"

She smirked as she replied, "She's in her dressing room. She wanted to get some rest after rehearsals. She's probably getting ready—I hope she's getting ready."

Tori nodded then put on a bittersweet smile as she glanced around the backstage. "It's kind of surreal being back here again."

Jade's brow furled in confusion, but Tori was polite enough to explain, "You—she was getting ready for the PMA's and I came back here to cheer you on too."

"Thanks, but that's probably going to change too when I get back. My mom wants me to stay away from Mason and I intend listen to her. He may have made me famous, but…" She shook her head and finished out with a regretful whisper, "…it's cost me too much."

The couple glanced towards one another with supportive glances as they still worried for their friend then back to her. Tori tried to put her best smile on and commented, "It's going to be okay. I know you're going to make." She let out a soft laugh, "I just wonder what poor soul he's going to get to replace me instead of you for the show."

"As callous as it sounds… not my problem. I have too many of my own to worry about."

Beck snorted out and smirked. "Point."

The three let out soft laughs at the absurdity of the topic of their conversation and as they did so, they were surprised by two more arrivals.

The redhead eagerly walked up and pulled Jade into a hug. She let go of the pale girl and giggled out her excitement over seeing her again. "Hi Jad—"

"Jessica," Sam interrupted her in an effort to cover the potential slip up as she was right behind her.

"Jessica, hi Jessica," Cat quickly corrected herself with a bright smile.

"Hey Cat," Jade answered with an appreciative tone. She spared a glance to Sam who for a tomboy from what she had understood her to be from her time had definitely mixed in some femininity into her style in recent years. "Hi Sam… you look… alright." That was the best compliment Sam was going to get out of Jade as there was just too much bad blood between them for the dark brunette to accept that Sam had really changed or gave a chizz that she had changed.

The dirty blonde snorted out and shook her head.

Ava called out as she and Dusty approached from behind Sam and Cat, "It looks like we're here right on time."

"Ava!" Cat excitedly called out to her former classmate and eagerly pulled her into a hug. The equally short girl snorted out a laugh and returned the hug.

She pulled away and returned the greeting to the redhead with a smile, "Hi Cat. You look pretty tonight."

Cat looked down at her pink dress and played with the end of her hair as she laughed out, "Thanks."

Dusty cracked a smile and greeted the redhead with a warm tone, "Hello Caterina."

She gave him a warm smile as she replied with an affectionate tone, "Hi Dustin."

"Are you doing well? Puppet boy too?" he asked with a complete lack of mocking as he described Robbie.

She laughed louder and happily announced, "Yeah, we're doing great."

"I'm glad to hear."

The dirty blonde smirked to the Southern teenager. "Dusty."

His smile dropped as he looked back with an impassive expression. "Sam."

"So you got an invite?"

Dusty smirked. "Yep." He toyed with her with his question as he had a hard time believing yes could be an answer, "She invited you?"

She flicked her brow up and dryly commented, "I'm more Cat's guest."

"Right…"

The pair with celestial parents from opposite sides of Lucifer's rebellion stared at each other for a few moments apparently trying to size the other one up.

Jade interrupted as though it might have been interesting to see the pair actually go at it if it deteriorated to such a point, she couldn't afford a fight when she wanted to present a united front of support to her future self, "Cutting it close."

Dusty looked away from the cambion and playfully teased, "Women always take longer than they say."

Ava threw him a quick disapproving look as she crossed her arms.

He gave her a playful smile then whispered, "You know it's the truth sweetie," and finished with a soft kiss on her cheek.

She cracked a smile at his charms then looked back to Jade and clarified, "That and we drove over and traffic was a mess."

Sam gave the twin of her former schoolmate a perplex expression as she questioned, "Why didn't you just pop over like we did? Saved the headache of security too."

Dusty smirked as he commented, "I like driving."

As the pair was finishing up their soft verbal sparring, Beck called out in surprise as he recognized his childhood friend as he walked out from the end door of the dividing wall and next to the makeup table and mirror, "Moose?"

The question drew the rest's attention to the Canadian born.

"Beck? Hi," he laughed out nervously. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

He knotted his brow and answered with a hesitant tone, "We're here to see Jade's show. What are _you_ doing here?"

The taller young man didn't get a chance to respond as Jade crossed her arms under her chest and frowned as she called out in disgust, "Really? You try now?"

He frowned and took a step forward to look at the teenager. He may have been a very laid back kind of guy, but apparently interrupting his intimate time could annoy the muscular fellow. "She called to make up for you interrupting us the last time."

Tori made a face of disgust knowing what he was referring as she looked away from the Canadian that had been a fortunate distraction to direct some of her romantic energy into instead of Freddie in the weeks following the PMAs. The others immediately realized what he was referencing and put on their own uncomfortable expressions.

Dusty slid between the teenager and the Canadian and cut him off with a sharp tone, "_Back up._"

The more muscular young man frowned, but the look in Dusty's eyes told him that it wouldn't be a good idea to challenge him along with the fact that Beck had also took a step forward away from his fiancée to let his physical presence be known to him.

Moose turned his attention away from the Southern teenager and smiled at the redhead among the group. "Hi Cat."

Cat slightly frowned and inched her way behind Sam to use the dirty blonde as a shield.

Sam whispered out with a cold tone that showed she had little patience for the Canadian, "She's spoken for."

He stepped around Dusty and motioned a hand out towards the redhead as he attempted to explain to Sam, "I was just being poli—"

Sam grabbed him by the outstretched hand and twisted it to put him in a supinating wristlock and bringing the muscular young man to his knees or she would break his wrist. "I don't like you being 'polite' to her because I know _why_ you want to be polite. I'm not like Dusty… I'm willing to drag out your pain instead of just breaking you as he is and unlike him, I can't put you back together. I highly doubt he would either, so… give me a reason to start with your wrist."

The Canadian was shocked that the dirty blonde could possibly be that strong even when the joint lock didn't require that much force. He desperately looked to the rest to see if they would intervene, but saw none of them had the inclination to do so.

"Okay, okay!"

The dirty blonde pushed him away and let go of his hand, sending the muscular young man on his behind. He rubbed his wrist as he stood up. He shook his head and started walking off, apparently willing to spend the show on the opposite side of the stage's backstage. Watching the Canadian scamper off brought a smile to Sam's face.

Ava leaned over to whisper to Jade, "And that's why he accepts Cat living with her."

Jade flicked her pierced eyebrow in understanding and witnessing that Cat had replaced Carly on Sam's 'do not touch' list.

Before any further comment could be made about Moose's appearance or Sam's handling of the situation, Mason with his entourage entered that area of the backstage from the side entrance hallway and quickly approached them as he recognized the group. He gave them all disapproving expressions.

He questioned his onetime musical protégé with a hint of impatience, "Tori."

Tori smirked and answered back with a teasing voice, "Hi Mason."

"How did you get back here?" He looked to the rest and recognized them then commented, "How did any of you get back here?"

Jade confidently smiled as she answered with a slightly mocking tone, "I invited them. They are her friends and I wanted people here to support her for her last show."

Mason frowned as he dryly commented, "These people are not her friends. They are anything but."

Jade confidently retorted, "Yes they are… she's just being stubborn."

"No, she's trying to protect herself from their jealous ways and I'm going to protect her as well. I'll just call security and have them thrown out."

She shrugged her leather jacket covered shoulder as she retorted, "It could look messy throwing them out on the last show of her tour. You want that as a headline on the entertainment pages?"

"It won't look messy, it'll _get_ pretty messy if you try," Dusty spoke out with a sharp tone.

Sam smirked and passed a quick glance to the Southern teenager. "You're going to cut loose?"

He returned the smirk with one of his own and answered, "If he's going to try to spoil our night, why not have a _little_ fun?"

Sam chuckled along as she could easily get into that kind of fun.

Mason frowned and looked to his assistant for a moment, but she apparently had no advice to offer him. He snapped back around with a deep frown and warned, "Fine stay, but if you bother her, I will have you thrown out and I won't care how it looks." He turned and stormed off to join Moose on the other side of the stage.

Cat spoke up in a whisper, "I don't like him even if he gave me Bibble."

The green streaked hair girl frowned and looked to the redhead to question, "What's Bibble?"

* * *

The musician exited her dressing room and cut through the right side of the backstage for her last minute checks, but stopped in her tracks when she saw everyone conjugating and happily chatting with one another.

She took several breaths then glared at all of them as she called out to get their attention, "What are you doing here?"

"We were invited, remember?" Tori confidently spoke up.

"Yes, but I didn't expect or want any of you here," she snapped out coldly. She spared particularly cold stares to Sam and Dusty. "Especially those abominations."

Cat nervously spoke up, "We're here to support you."

Jade frowned as she looked upon the redhead she hadn't seen in years. "You didn't do it last time. Not really. Are you trying to make it up now?" She turned and outright glared at Beck and finished, "Or are you going to trash talk behind my back again."

Beck attempted to speak with a regretful expression, but she cut him off, "You listened to him… all of you and took his side about me stealing the spot from Tori."

A familiar voice called out, "You didn't steal the spot from Tori, just that Mason was wrong in what he did to Tori and using you to punish her because she wouldn't be his toy. We didn't want him to use you like a toy just to make himself more money."

The heavier tattooed Jade took in a sharp breath as she heard the voice of the man she hadn't spoken to or seen in nearly five years. The others waited with baited breath as she turned to face their former friend from Seattle.

Freddie continued with a soft, but confident voice, "We saw what he tried to do to Tori and we didn't want him to do the same to you because we love you… I love you."

The older Jade tried to answer in a menacing tone, but her voice along with the figurative mask on her face cracked, "It didn't seem like it when you were taking Tori's side over mine… wanting me to give up my chance to make it or when you ran out on New Year's for Carly. Why couldn't you pick me over what you thought was right? I know Sam wasn't years ago, but wasn't I worth it? Me… your angel that gripped you tight and raised you out of Hell? Wasn't I worth it?"

Freddie looked down in shame while the others divided their attention between the former couple to direct sympathetic expressions to them.

Jade's shoulders slumped as she saw the potential future between her and Freddie. Had she really wanted him to give up that piece of him just to satisfy her in their relationship? Did she have the right to ask that of him? She was just asking him to do the same as Carly had done last year. She was shocked out of her musings with Freddie speaking up with a regretful voice, "I did pick you though. I was upset that he did that to Tori, but I was afraid of what he would do to you—what he _did_ do to you. I begged you… pleaded with you not to… not to sell your soul to him just to make it, that you could do it on your own without him, but…"

He motioned his hand up and down in her direction and continued with a tired voice, "How much of _this_ is Mason so he can sell more of your records and how much is Jade West? You can't tell me this is all you… I can tell the difference just looking in your eyes. I just hope you can do the same."

She stormed up to him and glared at him trying to penetrate his soul with her piercing blue eyes. "In my eyes? Tell me Freddie, what do you see in my eyes? Huh? What deep spiritual, metaphysical bullshit do you see?"

He paused for a moment to study her eyes passed her cold fury face then whispered, "I see… I still see my Jadelyn."

Her breath caught in her throat and she took a step back from him. He gave her a hopeful expression while she tried to hold back her shock. She finally whispered, "I have a show to put on." She turned and headed for the stage.

Cat eagerly called out, "Have fun."

"Showed the world the real you—they'll love you like we do," Freddie called out.

The show stopping performer paused in mid-stride and for a moment they thought she was going to turn around as she slightly turned to look over her left shoulder. The former couple's eyes met, exchanging heartbreak and regret then she turned to head for the stage.

Jade rested a soft hand on Freddie's upper right arm and whispered, "Thank you for coming, but I thought you wanted me to let you go."

He paused for a moment at seeing that she was wearing another one of his old Penny-Tees then cracked a smile as he tenderly answered, "My girl needed me… in both times; where else would I be? And like you told me one time, there comes a point where I have to stop running."

Jade gave him a curious expression as she never remembered telling him that, but quickly filed that away. She smiled, wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him from the side as she pressed her cheek on his shoulder.

He gave her a genuine smile then looked with the rest of the gathering of friends turned and watched from the side as the present day Jade confidently took center stage and immediately bellowed out the opening lyric of her first song with the crowd instantly cheering.

Cat approached the former tech-producer and hugged him from the other side. He let a soft smile form on his face as he returned the hug with one arm. "Hello Cat."

"Hiiii," she happily greeted her former friend then gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. She took a step back and Sam gave a friendly nod to the man she shared a colorful and conflicted history. He gave her a respectful nod then looked to Tori that approached him.

Tori warmly smiled at her former best friend (besides André) and greeted him with an equally warm tone, "Hey Freddie."

"Hey Tori."

The former best friends shared a hug and held each other for a few moments.

She whispered into his ear, "We've missed you Freddie."

"I've tried not to miss you, but I've failed miserably," he whispered with a mixed tone of levity and regret.

She bowed her head down for a moment to rest on his shoulder to suppress a regretful laugh.

They pulled apart and Freddie gave her a tiring smile as he praised her, "I've seen all your movies—I always catch the first showing on release day. You're great."

The compliment instantly brightened up her mood. "Thanks."

He gave her another nod then looked to the long haired actor and greeted him with a polite tone, "Beck."

"Freddie."

The pair stared at one another for a few moments then he turned his attention to the twin of a former schoolmate at Ridgeway. He warmly greeted her, "Hey Ava."

She answered glad to see the former tech-producer, "Hi Freddie."

He gave a half smile to the Southern teenager. "Dusty."

"Freddie. How are ya doing bro?"

Freddie chuckled, "Do you really need to ask?"

"No, not really. I've been keeping an eye on you from time to time. Making sure nothing too bad will happen to you, but man… your life sucks."

The rest sucked in surprised breaths and put on embarrassing expressions at Dusty being so blunt in his opinion of Freddie.

Freddie slightly turned his head to the side and gave him a questioning look as if he had really said such a thing. "Thanks Dusty."

Dusty chuckled, "Always telling you the truth."

The engineer playfully mocked, "So your life's being going good?"

He shrugged a shoulder and lamely answered, "Ah… I've been doing alright: you might have heard about that Christian film I made that made more money than The Passion of the Christ, my series got a third season pickup and…" He wrapped an arm around Ava's shoulders and smiled down to his loving girlfriend, "…I'm with her. I'm doing pretty well."

Freddie nodded along and was happy that his former friend was doing well. "This coming from a guy who wanted nothing to do with the entertainment industry and be back in Carolina."

Dusty rolled his eyes and flippantly commented, "Yeah, well… trying to cure every disease known to man isn't cheap."

Once the reunion was done, so they all looked on to watch her start on her next song. Beck and Dusty went off to find some chairs for them to sit about fifteen minutes into the concert so they could be comfortable for what was going to be nearly an hour and half concert. As their Jade went through the concert, they were cheering along with crowd and hopefully she could hear them over the sold out arena.

After about three-fourths of the concert was done, the lights in the theater dimmed, returned to normal then dimmed again.

* * *

The crowd started cheering louder as they thought it was part of her light show to bath them in darkness, but short haired Jade instantly recognized that there was a problem as she knew every little detail about how the show was scripted and that cutting of the lights at that point was not part of it. She paused only for a moment then started singing again to finish the song.

* * *

Sam looked towards the ceiling and upper rigging of the stage asked with a worried tone towards Dusty, "Are you doing that?"

Dusty responded with a guarded tone, "I was going to ask you the same thing… which means…"

Ava whispered out with a hint of fear lacing her voice, "Who's playing with the lights?"

* * *

Older Jade finished wrapping up the song and dashed off the stage towards her right side towards her former friends. She shoved her microphone into an assistant's hand then the musician stomped towards Dusty and Sam and shouted out in frustration, "Are you doing this? Trying to ruin my show by playing with the lights?" She directed her harsh glare towards Dusty and shouted, "Is this payback for stabbing you?"

Ava asked in outrage, "What do you mean you stabbed him?"

The musician and Dusty both ignored her as he got up from his seat and the pair the stared at one another with the Southern young man countered with a curt tone, "I'm not doing it and neither is Sam, but I'm going to find out because whoever it is… they have to be close."

Dusty straightened his right arm down and apparently out of nowhere the silver blade that Jade had once saw in his bedroom slipped down his inner forearm and he gripped the leather wrapped handle. He turned and gave Ava a quick kiss on her right cheek then turned to look at the blonde headed she demon and whispered with a cold tone, "Behave or I'll smite your ass."

Sam took a sharp breath as she looked back at him then at nothing between blinks, leaving only a rustle of wind.

Ava slightly frowned with worry as the others remained silent in their concern.

The musician shook her head in disgust then turned to head to change into another outfit for her next act.

Once she was out of sight, Ava looked to the younger Jade and commented, "That could be your ride back home, but…"

Jade remained silent as she saw the nervousness in the girl's eyes.

* * *

The lighter brunette Jade retook the stage a few minutes later and finished out the concert without a problem as the other spilt their attention on her and concern that Dusty had not returned. The heavier tattooed Jade was leaving the stage to head for them, but the crowd started cheering and demanding for an encore.

She turned back and walked back onto the stage and quickly chatted with the band. She retook center stage and the band began to play. She started singing a song that Jade had not heard from her collection or during the rehearsals, _"You think you know me, but you don't know me!"_

"_You think you own me, but you can't control me. You look at me and there's just one thing you see, so listen to me, so listen to me!"_

"_You push me back; I push you back, harder, harder! You scream at me! I scream at you louder, l-l-l-l-louder! I'm dangerous, so I'm warning you, but you're not afraid of me and I can't convince you… you don't know me..." _

She subconsciously looked to Freddie offstage._ "And the longer that you stay, the ice is melting… and the pain feels okay, it feels okay heeyyy!"_

"_You push me back; I push you back… you scream at me. I scream at you louder, louder, louder, louder, louder and louder and louder! You push me back. I push you back, harder, harder! You scream at me! I scream at you louder, l-l-l-l-louder! I'm dangerous, so I'm warning you, but you're not afraid of me and I can't convince you… you don't know me..."_

She screamed out the final lyric, _"You don't know me!"_

The multi-platinum musician started desperately trying to catch her breath but she wore a smile as the crowd was on their feet and screaming out their approval of her. They loved her… they had not abandoned her… but… she could hear cheers from her left and saw that the people that she had been through thick and thin with through high school were cheering their hearts out for her. They were here now and they were with her in the audience then nearly five years ago when she first took this very stage to sing to the world.

She subconsciously cracked a smile when she saw Freddie smile to her and mouth, _"I know you,"_ and as much as a piece of her stubbornly hung on to the idea that he didn't, the rest of her screamed in her mind after hiding for the last five years that it was the truth.

As she looked to him, their cheers along with the crowds started to dull into white noise as another sound started drowning it out: the sound of her own rapid heartbeat. It started to get louder and faster in her ears until that was then only thing she could hear then it stopped.

Her eyes opened wide as she couldn't hear it anymore.

Her arm dropped and microphone dropped out of her hand. The crowd thought it was her ending with a dramatic motion, but the members of her backup band could see that something was off with her.

The next moment her knees collapsed underneath her then she started falling forward.

Freddie's face fell in horror as he watched the present day Jade's arm drop then tip forward and started tumbling forward down the steps. He didn't even think as his feet moved on their own to move him towards the falling artist.

She tumbled down the few steps and collapsed at the bottom level of the stage. Her arms and knees screamed out in pain from impacting the steps as her body fell, but she had no voice to cry out her pain. She landed on her back to look up at the blinding flashing lights from the ceiling rigging and desperately trying to breathe.

Freddie was next to her at a moment slipped his hand behind her the base of her neck to her head. She looked up at him with complete and utter fear in her eyes as she tried to speak, but couldn't even wheeze.

He whispered without thinking, "You're going to be okay Jade." Freddie realized that she had stopped breathing, so he ignored the danger of moving her after the fall and scooped her up and dashed her off stage to the side preparing area. He gently laid her down as the others gathered around her.

She tried to mouth something to him, but her jaw started to slack and distorting what she attempted to say. Her eyes started to loose focus on him and her vision started greyout.

He covered one hand with another then started pressing on the center of her chest. After several times, he turned to her face and tilted her chin up and pinched her nose to start giving her mouth to mouth.

"Come on Jade!" he shouted in frustration then started back on pressing on her chest.

Beck had reached to the other side of Jade and Freddie looked up and shouted at the actor, "You breathe when I tell you to breathe just like I just did!"

Beck scooted to kneel beside his ex-girlfriend and mimicked Freddie when the engineer instructed him.

He silently counted off then shouted, "Breathe… Where are those damn EMTs!?"

He continued to compress her chest as he shouted, "Dusty! Dusty! Get your ass back here! Don't you dare leave me again! Breathe!"

The pair went through the cycle several times that Beck lost count, but regardless of how many breaths he breathed into her or how frantic Freddie's chest compressions were becoming, she wasn't responding.

Freddie ignored the actor as he continued his chest compressions and breathing for her, but her body remained limp. As every second ticked by, he subconsciously knew she was slipping away and if he could bring her back, she was risking coming back with brain damage.

He kept the CPR up on his own for another few minutes, ignoring other bystanders that watched him until the EMTs finally showed up. He pulled away to give them room as one charged up a portable defibrillator as the other put on a manual oxygen mask over her mouth and nose.

"Clear!" He placed the paddles on either side of her heart then sent the charge through her. She barely jilted from electrical charge, but nothing more.

They all looked on in horror as the EMTs continued for a few more minutes, but the musician failed to respond to their efforts. The one on the defibrillator shook his head as he looked to his partner and pulled the paddles away. He nodded in return and stopped with respiration. The one putting away the paddles looked to Freddie and whispered, "I'm sorry."

They respectfully moved away from her and Freddie slid next to her. He slid his left arm under her shoulders and lifted her up to a sitting position. He gently brushed her messy and sweaty hair away from her cheeks as he cradled her while his first tears started rolling down his cheeks.

Beck knelt down across from him and looked at the former tech-producer with a look of horror and shock. He whispered in a voice he couldn't even hear, "Freddie… she's gone…"

He looked up and stared at his former rival/friend and shouted out with near hatred in his voice, "She's not gone! Dusty just has to get back and he'll bring her back. She hasn't left yet. Where the Hell is he?" He looked up and shouted, "Dusty!"

Beck looked to the man that replaced him in the heart of the girl was his true love with heartbroken pity as his own grief of losing Jade hadn't hit him yet.

Tori covered her mouth with both her hands while Cat turned to Sam and instantly started crying into the crook of the blonde's neck while Sam held her best she could in a vain effort to comfort her.

Freddie pulled her close and hugged her to him then choked out a cry, "Jade… come back to me… please come back to me…"

He looked up to Sam as his tears started running between his nose and cheeks and choked out, "Bring her back… you can manipulate nature—the very fabric of reality. Bring her back. Please Sam… please… I'll sell you my soul if you bring her back."

Cat looked to her blonde with equal fear and hope, but Sam looked on horrified by his request, but more horrified with her response, "Freddie… I… I… don't know how."

Jade took a deep breath and finally spoke in a hushed tone for the first time since watching her future self collapsing, "I'm dead."

Her simple statement drew the attention of the others from her deceased self and towards her. Freddie looked to her with regret and sorrow.

"Yes you are Jadelyn West," a serene voice commented from behind them.

Everyone turned their attention to look at a lovely young woman with straight blonde hair and black rimmed glasses calmly approaching with a leather covered book cradled in her arms.

Jade cautiously asked as she could feel a sense of menace coming off the otherwise pleasant and attractive woman, "Who are you?"

The others seemed to feel it too and took a step or two back with Cat getting behind Sam. The dirty blonde coolly eyed the other blonde and was instinctively expecting the worst.

She gave a soft smile as she answered, "I'm Atropos. I'm one of the Fates… the one that cuts the line to one's life and I just cut yours."

Jade took a step back and whispered, "Fate?"

"Yes… and I've just showed you yours: another drugged out musician that dies too soon because of her foolish choices."

The dark brunette swallowed down her the sickening feeling from watching herself die. "So you're the one behind this? You're the one that dropped me here?"

Ava walked to stand beside Jade and answered as she looked to the blonde haired goddess, "No, she couldn't have brought you here in the first place. She's just a goddess even if she is one of the Fates."

The blonde frowned and turned her attention to the shorter young woman. "Just a goddess _little girl_?"

Ava smirked as she retorted to the underlining threat, "My boyfriend is higher than you on the cosmic scale… and has little patience for false gods. You're not impressive."

Atropos smirked as she commented, "Yes, your Antichrist boyfriend… he'll play his part soon enough to get the Apocalypse back on track, but…"

The long haired dark brunette gave Atropos a deep frown as the goddess turned back to Jade, "…I have more immediate concerns to be dealt with."

Atropos took another step to Jade and continued, "She is right. I didn't actually pull you here. Mitch helped me out to get you here to get you back on the right path."

Freddie called out as he still cradled the deceased singer, "Why Mitch? Why not Anna?"

The blonde looked to him with pity and answered, "Because he's got a soft spot for Carly since he was assigned to be her angel one Christmas. He was quite happy to help me fix things for you to get back with Carly."

Freddie's brow knotted while Jade looked to the goddess in confusion. He questioned, "Get back with Carly? You said Jade was sent here to get back on the right path."

"Yes, to make her realize what will happen if she stays with you and all the baggage that comes with it… a corpse and look what has happened to you: a lonely, bitter man who debates everyday whether or not he should walk in front of a bus to end his life because he believes the world is out to destroy him and he can't be happy." She frowned as she stared at the engineer and her tone shifted to one of irritation, "I wouldn't even had to do any of this if you would have realized during your trip with Haniel that you should have just gone through your relationship with Sam and got it over with so you could be with Carly the next year. If you would have just stayed after New Year's then things could have gotten back on track."

She looked back to Jade and Beck to continued, "And you two… you weren't supposed to break up until the following February then realize just a few months later that you needed each other. Beck would realize that he missed you and you two would reconnect."

She shook her head, "No, Freddie had to upset the plan. He just couldn't have been a good little boy and played his part and that messes everything else up. He had to go to Los Angeles and meet you!" She looked back to the dark brunette. "And you had to compound the problem. You actually had to fall for him. You don't get back with Beck and don't give your spot at the PMAs back to Tori for Mason to make her famous, but she gets with Beck instead of André."

She glanced around to everyone and shouted, "Look at what Jade and Freddie did! They messed up everything for most of you!" She snorted out with a bit of irritation, "At least I was able to fix Sam and Cat, but that was about it."

Jade let out a disbelieving laugh and questioned her as being insane, "Supposed to? We're happy and they're going to be happy too. Why does it have to be the way you describe?

"Because _I_ said so!" she shouted and subconsciously telekinetically shook the room that added to her point.

Jade took a moment with the rest to steady their feet then gave her a deep frown of defiance.

The ancient 'woman' shook her head and retorted, "I have a job and it's to make sure you follow the script. _We all have a script_. I work hard and I'm really, really good at my job and I'm not going to let you two mess it up because you decide to throw out the pages and not stick to your parts. You two were never meant to fall in love. Hades, you weren't even really supposed to keep in contact after you first met. You messed up everyone else's paths too."

The green streaked hair girl frowned at her and retorted, "Well too bad. Your little trip failed if that's what you wanted me to learn. I'm going back and saving Freddie, forgiving Beck and getting famous without Mason. We're going to be happy together and so is everyone else with their lives. I'm going to make sure of it."

Atropos slightly bowed her head while glaring and countered with an irritated voice, "You don't get that choice! Carly and Freddie are meant for each other as you and Beck are meant for each other and everyone else is supposed to follow their paths and not be interfered with and that is that."

The pale teenager shouted defiantly, "I do have a choice! This entire trip showed me I have a choice and so does everyone else, just not the ones you like. I can chose to forgive Beck and still be with Freddie. Freddie can forgive Carly and truly be happy with me."

Jade gave her a dark glare as she continued, "No, you don't get to tell me how to live my life or who I chose to love even if you are a goddess. I'll love Beck because I want to love Beck and I'll love Freddie because I want to love Freddie. I chose who I love and they'll love whoever they want to love."

"But if you do…" She pointed to the deceased future Jade, "…this is what will happen to you. This is what will happen, not what you think you can fix with Freddie. Let him go and go back to Beck who still loves you and help Freddie realize that Carly is the one for him as it's supposed to go or you are going to die a drugged out musician. This will happen and you won't escape this fate with the choices you're thinking of making."

Jade nodded along and thought on her words for a few moments then defiantly spoke, "If this is my future for staying with Freddie for even one more day…" She looked to Freddie wearing a tired expression still holding her future self as if she was the most precious thing he had ever held as she continued, "…then I guess this is my future: dying in the arms of the man I love surrounded by people that love me…" Jade smirked and shook her head and looked back to the blonde. "It's not a bad way to go… so I get my way or I get this and Freddie could still find happiness after I'm gone. Either way, it's my choice, not your grand plan."

Atropos slightly frowned as she gave her a death glare. She spoke in a conversational level voice, but her irritation dripped off her words even as she tried to be cordial, "Fine then… I was trying to be nice about this, not make a big fuss over it and work within the system, but now… now I start having to get creative for you to see it my way."

The blue eyed teenager snorted out dismissively, "This isn't creative? Showing me all this? What more can you do to convince me to see it your way."

"Oh, I haven't begun little girl." She squinted her eyes for a moment as she questioned with a dangerous tease in her voice, "Have you seen those Final Destination movies? The ones where you have a bunch people dodged dying then killed off horribly one by one by one until they're all dead in the most gruesome way possible. That's not Death they're talking about, that's _me._ I'm the one that cuts the string and don't think I can't make it happen to you to fix this mess you and Freddie insist on continuing to make."

The dark haired teenager took a nervous swallow, but held her ground.

She let out a soft laugh, "You know where I'll start?"

She instantly frowned and narrowed her eyes on the pale girl. "I'll start with Sapphire. She's not supposed to exist, so I'll make you miscarry her and any other children you try to have with Freddie until you realize you're not supposed to be with him… and that's if I'm not in the mood to get _creative_ in ending her. I could wait until after she's born. There are so many things little girls face before they even start kindergarten… and all of them tragic and potentially messy ways." She motioned her head towards Tori and finished with a dark tone, "I'll do the same with any Tori and Beck try to have… including the one she's carrying _right now_."

The younger Vega sister's breath caught in her throat and her right hand immediately placed a hand over her abdomen while Jade took a sharp breath and her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

The glasses wearing goddess continued with an eerily calm voice, "Don't think I can't or won't make that happen to set things the way they're supposed to go. There are a million different ways I can make those happen: you having an allergic reaction eating something that induces labor far too early, sudden infant crib death you humans call it, having her drown when she's an infant, I cause you to look away for a few moments and _someone_ will take an eye to her… oh the more creative the better to break you up and get rid of her out of general principle."

Jade narrowed her eyes and tilted her head slightly down and to her right. She just looked at Atropos in complete silence as the others were silenced by what they saw as an empty stare on the dark brunette's face.

The pale teenager finally whispered softly and surprisingly in a calm voice, "I'm _going to kill you_, but before I do… I will invent a whole new level of pain using you as my guinea pig… and once I'm done torturing you… you will beg me to end your miserable excuse for a life… then… then I'll start all over again."

Atropos could deny it all she wanted, but the others and especially Jade could see the slight shiver that went through the glasses wearing goddess.

She cleared her throat and responded with a stern voice, but with a hint of fear underneath it if one listened carefully enough (which Jade did as the goddess was her complete focus), "I'm a goddess you foolish little girl."

"I. Will. Find. A. Way."

"If she doesn't, _I will_," Freddie hissed out.

The mortals and goddess coldly stared at each other waiting to see which of the three would do something first, but a high pitch noise started sounding all around them to interrupt the potential standoff.

Everyone including Atropos instantly looked around to figure out the source of the sound even if it seemed to not have a source. The pitch became louder and everyone covered their ears to the piercing sound except for Cat as her attention was drawn towards the ceiling in child like wonder.

The next moment, it seemed that everywhere was starting to brighten around them in a blinding white light and the ground started rumbling under their feet. They started kneeling down to keep their balance and trying to shield their eyes while still covering their ears.

Freddie leaned over to shield the deceased musician's body with his own in a pointless attempt to protect her.

"Earthquake!" Sam shouted and attempted to grab Cat and pull her down to protect her, but the girl would not turn her gaze away from the ceiling.

Ava shouted as loud as she could manage over the high pitch whine, "It's not an earthquake!"

Sam demanded in return even if she couldn't hear her own words being spoken, "Then what is it!"

"It's an _Archangel_!"

The audience members in the auditorium started screaming and some tried to rush towards the doors to escape the building as the irrational fear took over them fearing the roof would collapse over them.

Jade opened her eyes for a moment into the blinding light towards the ceiling to see what Cat was directing her attention without any blindness. The pale girl's breath caught for a moment as she was able to see for a moment in a blink of an eye before the light was just too blinding: some creature consumed in fire yet not burning with six red wings: two covering what looked like legs, two that covered the creature's face and the last pair for flight.

The light seemed to gather in one spot at the end of the staging area, bring the surroundings to their normal light levels and the ground stopped shaking.

Everyone gathered their respective breaths and turned their attention to the point of gathered light that ceased moments later to reveal a pale woman with a similar hair color to Cat wearing a white V-neck shirt, long dark blue coat and blue jeans. One last rumbling of the ground accentuated her presence with a flash of light to allowing contrast for a pair of shadow wings behind her then everything settled.

Jade instantly recognized her from the pictures in Dusty's room, the lovely redhead being held by his father and smiling to the camera.

Cat instantly dropped to her knees to bow before her and pressed her head to the floor.

The others looked on in silence and wonderment and fear.

The Fate cleared her throat and took a step back as she whispered out with a clearly fearful voice, "Haniel…"

The redhead gave her a cold stare with an even mouth expression that was a disturbing contrast to her lovely face and refused to verbally acknowledge the goddess. She slowly started walking to Freddie and the fallen Jade. She knelt down to the former couple with Freddie looking to her with a desperate expression on his face. She softly touched her right pointer and middle finger in the center of the pale young woman's forehead and the next moment, Jade sucked in a sharp breath and started rapidly blinking her eyes.

She sat up in Freddie's arms and desperately tried to get her breath and bearings. She looked to Anna with a slightly confused and fearful expression while the redhead warmly smiled in return. The musician looked to Freddie and met his tearful eyes while he gave her a small smile. She started blinking too as tears started running down her face and she recalled the last few seconds of her life as she could hear Freddie begging her to breathe and not to leave him. She raised her hand and thumbed away a few tears under his left eye then he pulled her into a tight hug and started crying into her shoulder. She held him in return.

The redhead stood up and glared towards Atropos to let her know that she was not forgetting her, but she was not at the top of her priority at the moment as she walked to the bowing Cat. The older redhead spared Sam a quick glance as a warning not to interfere with her then knelt down to whisper something into Cat's ear.

Cat hesitantly stood up, but would not meet the woman's eyes. She in returned gave her a warm smile and rubbed the sides of her arms several times then softly kissed her on the forehead.

The older redhead turned away and put back on her impassive expression to finally look to Jade. She finally openly spoke in a whisper, a surprisingly tender and caring voice in comparison to her demeanor, "I got your prayer Jade. I'm sorry it took me so long to show up."

The dark brunette nodded her head in thanks even if she was feeling apprehension from the 'woman's' presence.

Anna looked to Atropos and asked with a cool tone, "What do you think you're doing?"

"I—I went through the proper channels. I cleared it with Zachariah. He's the one that took care of the details with Mitch."

The cold stare the pale redhead was giving her said that it wasn't a satisfactory answer, so she continued, "I'm just showing her the consequences of her choices. She needs to see what will happen and let her know how things are supposed to play out." She cleared her tightening throat. "Freddie wasn't even supposed to come to L.A. Freddie is supposed to still be in Seattle. He was supposed to give Sam a chance just like you showed him and that is how things are supposed to play out just as Beck and Jade are supposed to still be together before they breakup then come back together."

Anna responded with a dark glare. She just stared at the blonde for a few moments and the rest looked on fearfully, not knowing what to expect. The redhead finally whispered out with a cold voice as she focused entirely on the blonde woman, "You do not tell her which is the correct path. You can show paths… which I'm going to have a long discussion with Zachariah and _Michael_ as to why you were allowed in the first place… but you are not allowed to tell which one is the correct one. You do not attempt to take their Freewill from them in which path they have to choose by threatening their children. You do not threaten to murder a baby in cold blood and worst and doing the same to an unborn one because you don't like the choices they make."

Atropos seemed to suppress her fear for a brief moment as she snapped with full righteous indignation in her voice, "I'm just trying to put things back on track. _It is the wrong path_ and the faster she realizes it, the faster things will right themselves and not creating people who will just create more chaos for simply existing."

The redhead looked unimpressed and calmly asked, "Explain to me why I should not turn you into a piece of charcoal for threatening their children?"

The goddess sucked in a sharp breath and actually shivered for a moment as she took a step back from the archangel. She cleared her throat and tried to sound as intimidating as she had with Jade and the rest, "I've… I've got two sisters out there. They're bigger, in every sense of the word. Kill me – Jade and Freddie are target one. _For simple vengeance._"

Present day Freddie and Jade took in surprised breaths as they finally stood up and stared at the goddess. Freddie's shock quickly turned to anger and was about to snap, but teenage Jade defiantly called out, "Take your best shot bitch!"

The glasses wearing goddess turned her attention to the dark brunette teenager and glared.

Anna cracked a smile, but it wasn't a pleasant expression as one would expect on her lovely face. She called out to the goddess, "I know who your sisters are… and if I decide to _smite_ you… I will turn them into finger-paint before they can touch either of them… and I have ten thousand of my brothers and sisters ready to back me up so they don't frighten me."

Atropos needlessly took a breath as she realized threatening a teenager was one thing, but an archangel was an entirely different matter. "No… your Father won't let you kill me." She shook her head probably trying to convince herself more than anyone else, "Not over just this."

A soft rustling of air and a low growling voice behind the goddess answered, "Maybe not, but I am." She turned around with fear etched on her face and only had the briefest of moments to see hatred on the nephilim's face along with the blood splatter on the left side of his forehead, temple and cheek originating from the corner of his eyebrow before he palmed over her forehead and fingers extended midway over the crown of her head.

She swallowed in fear as she looked into rage filled _blue_ eyes from his natural brown ones. She wanted to be anywhere else in the universe at this moment (and tried to grant herself that wish, but couldn't wink out) as she knew the demi-angel had no problem in figuratively pulling the trigger and disintegrating the equivalent of her brain, eyes and tongue. He was still human under it all with baser instincts and she doubted his mother would intervene.

He whispered out softly with menace dripping off of his voice, "What's the problem Fate? You can't shazzam your way out?"

She whispered out looking for help, "Haniel—"

"I'm the one that has the floor!" he cut her off with a sharp tongue.

She quickly shut her mouth and looked to him with the fear clearly in her eyes.

Dusty clenched his jaw tightly and whispered out through clenched teeth, "You play with my friends like they're toys… you sent that angel to get in my way to save my friend… you threaten their children… I should end you right now then send your sisters to Purgatory right behind you."

If she actually had a bladder, she would have lost control of it. She muttered, "Please… I'll leave them alone. I'll never bother them again. Just… let me go… they'll never hear from me again."

"No!"

Everyone except for Dusty turned to look at Jade. The teenager wore her look of hatred she had formed for the goddess clearly on her face as she continued, "No. Don't let her go Dusty. She wanted to murder my daughter… and _worst_. She wanted to murder Tori and Beck's child. If you can kill her then do it… please? For my little girl and Tori's baby."

Atropos started quickly breathing and whispered, "Please…"

Dusty narrowed his eyes and whispered, "Goodbye Fate."

The goddess' eyes opened wide knowing she was about to die, but the next moment she was gone with the sound of snapping fingers.

Dusty blinked with the disappearance and looked to the redhead in shock. "Mom!"

Anna bowed her head to avoid the look of anger in her son's eyes.

Jade shouted in outrage, "What did you do?!"

"I sent her back to Heaven…" She looked up to meet Jade's murderous eyes and whispered out, "She doesn't get off that easily with a simple smiting… you weren't going to let her off that easily by your own words and neither is my Father."

The pale teenager wanted to lash out, but the archangel throwing her words back in her face quenched her anger for a moment.

The present day Freddie and Jade finally stood up and she whispered, "Won't she try again? Would she really take my little girl?"

Jade looked to her older self, surprised by the concern that she spoke about a child she had told her earlier that she didn't want.

Anna turned her attention to the shorter haired Jade and answered with a reassuring tone, "She's not going to bother any of you again." She looked back to younger Jade to reiterate. "Either of you."

"What about Carly's angel? Mitch? She said he brought me here."

"Mitch won't…" She blinked as she realized that the other angel wasn't around. She looked to Dusty with a questioning expression. "Where's Mitch sweetheart?"

Dusty smirked and pulled into view the silver short sword into existence and held it up in his right hand. Half of it was covered in blood, starting at the tip. "He's going to be limped wing for a while… do you grow those back when one of these cuts them off?"

Anna blew out disapproving breath.

The Southern teenager bowed his head slightly and narrowed his gaze towards his mother and whispered out, "Jacob wanted a blessing, I just wanted him out of my way… he wouldn't move, so I moved him."

She gave him a warm smile. "It's not you I'm disappointed with."

Dusty took a surprised breath then gave his mother a nod. Ava took advantage of the loll and wrapped her arms around his waist to hug him tightly. He smiled and returned the hug with a kiss on her forehead.

Anna smiled at the reunion, but it was short lived as Jade called out, "Do you promise?"

The redhead gave the younger West a curious expression.

"That she'll never bother us again?"

"Yes."

Jade nodded in acceptance, but warned with a cool tone, "If you don't keep your word… if she does try anything—if she touches my baby girl… after I'm done with her… you're next and I will find a way to kill you."

Anna surprised her with a soft smile. "If it was my baby…" She paused to glance over to Dusty still holding Ava then back to Jade to finish, "…I'd do the same thing, so fair enough."

The green streaked haired teen nodded her head as her word did satisfy her because she did understand what the teenager was feeling.

The pale redhead waved her over with a smile. "Okay, it's time to take you home."

Jade let out a surprised relieving breath as she didn't realize how comforting those words could be to her. She was surprised that Cat suddenly lurched towards her and wrapped her in a hug. "We'll miss you."

The teenager slightly frowned as she pointed out the obvious, "Cat, I'm still here."

"Oh?" She turned and quickly walked over and grabbed the older Jade.

The heavier tattooed sucked in a breath of shock and looked down at the happy redhead. After a few moments, she returned the hug which brought out a happy squeak from the girl then started whispering something into the girl's ear.

Freddie let out a soft laugh at the scene of the friends reuniting.

Jade looked to her former rival and ex-boyfriend as the couple approached her. "Congratulations."

Beck looked to his fiancée with a surprised smile as his anger with the goddess had clouded the joy of finding out he was going to be a father.

Tori softly laughed, "I didn't know." She looked to Anna and asked, "Am I really pregnant?"

The archangel beamed her a smile and whispered, "Do you want me to tell you the sex?"

Tori started blinking as she felt a sudden wave of joy bringing tears to her eyes. The couple turned to one another and Beck immediately pulled her into a hug. While the couple shared their joy of finding out they were going to be parents, Jade turned to look at herself and her boyfriend's future self.

Jade looked to the former couple, reflecting their tired and emotionally exhausted states with her own expression. "You two going to be okay?"

The former couple looked to each other with conflicted emotions from all the emotional baggage of being separated for the last couple of years. Freddie looked back to the younger girl and laughed out ironically, "It's kind of a moot point with you going back?"

Jade put on a smile that couldn't convey the weight she felt on her shoulders. "Just in case I fail?"

Her older self whispered, "I think we'll be alright…" She looked to Freddie for confirmation.

He answered her by pulling her into a kiss that she didn't hesitate in returning. He wrapped his arms around the small of her back and lifted her off of her feet and start slowly spinning in place as they deepened the kiss.

Dusty chuckled as he had slipped up beside her without her noticing him and whispered, "I guess that answers your question."

She smirked and softly shook her head, "I guess it does." She looked to the demi-angel and her eyes immediately focused on the blood splatter on the side of his face. She softly placed a hand on his upper left arm. "Are you alright?"

He gave her a smirk. "You should see the other guy… limping away with only three and a half wings instead of four and a broke beak from his eagle face." He chuckled, "You know cherubim…"

She gave him a soft smile then gave him a hug and whispered the only thing she could think in saying to him, "Thank you."

He pulled her tighter to him and whispered into her ear in a hurried tone, "As soon as you get back you tell me everything and if Fate every shows up, you take the Colt in my bedroom and shoot her. _It will kill her._ Promise me. Promise me Angel Girl."

The dark brunette blinked in surprise then whispered in return, "I will."

They pulled apart then she looked to Ava. She gave the shorter girl a grateful smile as her statement of a name was a thank you, "Ava."

"Jade," the shorter girl answered with a bright smile then offered her arms out for a hug.

Jade accepted the offer and the pair shared a quick hug. They pulled away and Jade looked over everyone one last time then whispered, "Goodbye."

They waved and Cat shouted her goodbye while Freddie and the older Jade continued to kiss.

The teenager and archangel disappeared from sight.

Mason and Moose had made their way over during the chaos and looked on in shock most of the time at what they had seen. The music producer stuttered out, "Wh—what the bloody Hell was that?!"

Jade pulled her lips away from Freddie to look at the music producer. She confidently smirked and answered, "I quit." She looked to Moose and commented, "And we're done."

* * *

The angel and teenager arrived back in Freddie's room, but were still five year into the future from Jade's point of view.

Jade immediately looked to her in confusion. "I thought you were taking me home."

"I am, but I just… wanted to talk to you in private before we go."

Jade let out a soft, ironic laugh, "What is there to say?"

Anna gave her a regretful expression and whispered, "I'm sorry that you saw all of this. You weren't supposed to see this… this 'world', so I'm going to scrub your mind. I'm not going to let you carry all that you've seen in this… world. I'm not going to let it weigh you down or worrying about thinking that Fate will hurt any of your future children."

Jade asked horrified, "Scrub my mind? Make me forget about all of this?"

"Yes."

"You can't, not after everything I've learned about what happens; after everything I know what I have to do to fix everything."

Anna slightly turned her head and gave her a curious expression. "What did you learn that you didn't already know? What's there to fix?

"What?"

The redheaded angel softly laughed, "What did you learn? You already knew you loved Freddie and he loves you. You already knew you loved Cat as a sister even if you won't say it out loud. You knew you cared about André with how you reacted to the news of him making it big. You may not have admitted it, but you want what's best for everyone and hope they're happy. All of that was already inside you."

Jade darted her eyes back and forth as she crossed her arms under her chest. "What about Beck and Carly? I have to know that to fix things for myself and Freddie."

She answered with hopefully a reassuring tone, "How do you know you have to fix anything?"

Jade's brow knotted up as she gazed to the redhead then shouted in outrage, "Because I saw it! I've lived it for the last three days!"

Anna playfully asked, "And you know this is your future if you don't do anything how? You don't think this could just be one big lie to get you to do what Atropos wants you to do? You're determined to change things, but she's got you scared."

The pale teenager took a deep breath then looked back to meet the seraph's eyes. "So this isn't real?"

"Real is a complicated word, but I'm saying that this isn't necessarily your future if you do nothing."

The pale actress was quick to demand, "Then tell me how things are really suppose to be."

"No or… I would just be Fate telling you how things are 'supposed to be'. What is supposed to be is up to you and everyone else's choices. It doesn't matter what angels or devils or gods or fate or anyone else says… this is about you making your own choice and well... Atropos did have a point with all this: you do choose your own path, but I'm not letting you second guess every decision in fear thinking you're going to end up like you did tonight. Your fear alone could turn tonight into a self-fulfilling prophecy, so that's why I'm not going to send you back remembering any of this. I won't let her have that power over you. I won't let her rule over your life."

Jade looked down and thought on the lovely angel's words. She turned away from her and walked around the made bed, briefly glancing at it then stopped in front of the window and looked out. She looked out into the night and thought back on all the fears of the others that she would mess them up trying to fix her and Freddie.

She had spent the last three days trying to figure out what went wrong to try to figure out what to set right on the idea that it was Anna or her ilk behind her to help her, but… it could just be a ploy on Fate's part to get her way. As she thought, she realized that Anna was right: she would second guess every decision and her fear could drive her straight into dying in Freddie's arms.

The dark brunette finally turned to look at her and nodded her head in understanding. "Would you do one thing for me though?"

"If I can."

She hated to show fear, but she didn't believe she had any other choice as she requested, "Besides worrying about Fate, could you… you still keep an eye on us?"

Anna smiled and pulled the teenager into a comforting hug. "I will."

The teenager swallowed down her fear as she felt as safe as she did in her mother's arms. She tried to suppress a laugh as she realized what it felt like to be in the arms of an angel.

Anna pulled away and continued to smile as she raised her right hand and softly touched Jade's forehead.

* * *

Freddie glance around the room was a short one since his attention kept coming back to see that Jade was slightly frowning while sleeping, as if she was having an unpleasant dream. He debated whether or not to wake her up, but she took the decision out of his hands by finally stirring awake.

She blinked and looked up at him while still resting on his shoulder.

He whispered to her tenderly, "Hey."

"Hey."

"Can't sleep?"

She snorted out a breath with a hint of sarcasm lacing her voice, "I guess not."

He slightly furled his brow as he asked with concern, "Did you have a nightmare?"

Jade lifted her head off his shoulder to meet his eyes. Her pale brow knotted and deeply frowned as she whispered with uncertainty, "I… I don't remember, why?"

"You just didn't look like you having a pleasant sleep."

"If you say so…" she muttered out. She rested her head back on his shoulder and turned her attention to the television still displaying the late night movie.

* * *

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter and it didn't disappoint. I have an epilogue chapter for the story and hopefully get it posted this weekend.

If you're wondering why Anna is being considered an Archangel it is because in a certain fanbase, her real name possibly could be Haniel and after a little research, I found that Coptic Christians lists her as one of the Seven Archangels. Remember, it is just a story and I'm not making any judgments or voice any personal opinion of who is or who isn't an Archangel.

Special Guest Star Julie McNiven as Anna/Haniel

Special Guest Star Jennette McCurdy

Guest star Katie Walder as Atropos (Fate)


	15. Epilogue

Author's Note: Hello everyone. I hope you enjoyed the last chapter and that you will enjoy this one last chapter in wrapping up of my little pet project story. I would like to go ahead and thank everyone for reading and reviewing this story.

I hope I responded to everyone's reviews. You don't know how much I appreciate them. If you enjoyed this story, please continue to read on 'We Love Each Other' and take a peak at some other authors I recommend, PD31 and snapplelinz.

On with the story.

Rating: M, Adult Content (I mean it) and Language

* * *

Epilogue

Jade West Residence  
Beverly Park  
Los Angeles, CA  
Sometime after Midnight  
Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Two sets of clothes were strung up the stairs, down the hallway and just within the threshold of the master bedroom that led to the king size bed and two reunited lovers finishing expressing their love for one another.

They had escaped the theater almost as soon as younger Jade had left with Anna to avoid awkward questions by witnesses that couldn't comprehend what they had witnessed, from the press that would eagerly want to confirm a story that the music sensation had died on stage of her last performance of her tour, listening to Mason rant about how she couldn't just quit his label even if she didn't have any contractual obligations to him for another album and Moose upset that they weren't going to be 'fuck buddies' anymore. The Canadian quickly stopped talking when Freddie gave the taller young man a harsh glare and soft smirk on Dusty's face still with the blood splatter on his end of his brow, forehead and cheek which was an additional intimidating sight.

However, the pair did make sure that the others knew that they would meet up with them later in the week to start down the long road of rebuilding their friendships and trying to heal old wounds from their actions over the last few years. Cat was her ever optimistic self that everything would be fine in no time and already decided everything was forgiven on her end.

One last cry of pleasure escaped past Jade's lips then Freddie leaned backwards to lie on the bed, pulling Jade to rest on top of him. The brunette softly caught her breath as she settled to rest her head on top of the bare muscular with her right ear over an elevated heartbeat that she hadn't heard in a very long time while he pulled up the sheet to at least cover her behind. She closed her eyes to listen to the settling beat of his heart indicating the passing of time. She eventually sniffled as a tear fell between her nose and cheek and eventually making it to his chest.

His strong arms pulled her slightly tighter against him to reassure her.

She whispered out, "I haven't done that in a very long time…"

Freddie gently stroked down her spine with his fingertips and whispered, "And what's that?"

"Make love. I've had plenty of sex with…" She tried to swallow down her shame, but she was only partially successful as some slipped into her voice, "…let's just say I have been around during my various tours, but… never love. I haven't made love. I just… I wanted to get ride the pain and loss of not having you… so I tried to hate you and replace you with anyone I could find to cover missing you."

"I haven't either… but I pushed everyone away. I didn't want to add to the pain from a failed relationship I know would happen as I couldn't ever let you go. I know that's unhealthy and I should have moved on but… I believed in us and I couldn't let go of my guilt in failing you."

The pair slipped into silence as he gently ran his fingers up and down her spine, an activity he always loved doing after their love making (which was only twice, the day after Christmas and New Year's Day).

She finally broke the silence with a question filled with a mixture of hope and fear, "Are we just going to disappear and be replaced with how things turn out because of what she decides to do?"

Freddie took a deep breath that lifted Jade's head then answered with hesitation in his voice, "I don't know… it's just all theoretical about quantum mechanics, parallel universes and how separated they are."

"Quantum mechanics sounds familiar, but I don't understand what the rest means."

He cracked a smile as he recalled a conversation they had on that first day of meeting up at the workshop about technical jargon versus intelligence. "Vocabulary… it's the study of the world at the microscopic world and many worlds theory… every history and future is real regardless of what she goes back and does."

"So what she does when she gets back doesn't matter for us?"

"Maybe… I just don't know Jade, but… I think we shouldn't worry about what she does or doesn't do because we can't do anything about it… only what we do now."

Jade fearfully asked, "What do you want to do? I mean… between us?" Even though she had spent her last moments alive in his arms, unable to speak to him what she had been suppressing and denying for years while he begged her not to leave him, she still had her irrational fears about them or the future of them.

He took a soft breath as his finger tips stopped gliding across her back and palmed out on the small of her back. He whispered out moments later, "I want to spend the rest of my life with you… will you marry me?"

Jade lifted her head off his chest and looked to him in complete shock. She was hoping, even praying that he really wanted to try again with her, but she didn't expect him to go that far.

He looked her straight into her blue eyes as he continued, "I mean it. Marry me. I never stopped loving you and I do want to spend the rest of my life with you. You wanted to know what I want to do, well this is it, I'm laying it all out for you. We would have been married by now."

"We—we're not the same people we were almost five years ago? We haven't functioned in a relationship in… years… I don't even know how we're going to make this work again, least long marriage."

He gave her a hopeful smile, "But you do want this? You want us?"

She nodded her head with her chin tickling his chest.

He continued with greater conviction, "I don't think we've changed all that much these last couple of years and that's part of the problem with us. We've been in this holding pattern waiting for something to happen, for us to just be fixed and have our normalcy back, have our lives back, but it would never come… until now."

"You think we can really pickup where we left off?"

"Would you have taken me into your bed if you didn't believe that? Would _I_ have let you if I didn't believe it? Do we really have to put our lives on hold for one more moment? We nearly lost everything hours ago. We had this conversation one time about why you don't like birthdays and tonight proved my point and I think we can figure out the cosmetic changes in our lives—"

She narrowed her eyes on him and smirked.

He softly laughed, "That's not what I meant, just the things about being a household named music sensation and an overworked engineer. Are those things really going to get in our way after everything?"

She smiled to him, a smile she hadn't used in a long time, but instinctively remembered it. "Yes, I'll marry you… on one condition."

He let out a soft laugh. "Condition? Treating this as a record negotiation?"

"This is more important than a record…" She gave him a playful smirk. "I want Sapphire with you."

He took a deep breath in hearing the name then smiled in return and whispered, "I want that too… when would I have to deliver on… when would you want to deliver on that condition?"

She sat up and balanced herself with her hands on his abdomen to look down at him, exposing her beauty to him only marred by the skull tattoo that she had every intention of having removed. She narrowed her eyes and gave him a teasing smile. "Is nine months too soon for you?"

He sat up and captured her lips as he wrapped his arms around the small of her back. He pulled away from her lips just enough to reestablish eye contact with her. "No."

She put on the brightest smile she had put on in years then wrapped her arms behind his neck and pulled him into a deep kiss.

* * *

_She's my cherry pie, cool drink of water, such a sweet surprise. Tastes so good, make a grown man cry…_

Eighteen year old Dusty was leaning back in a couch resting his arms on top of the backrest with a smirk on his face that didn't match the rest of his face showing his apprehension. He was seated about two feet from the circular end of the Karaoke Dokie stage and smoothly commented with the hint of regret in his voice, "Oh this is so wrong in so many ways… I just hope this doesn't mean I have an Oedipus Complex…"

What he was commenting on was the very lovely redheaded teenager in white strutting towards him on stage.

Cat was wearing a sleeveless white dress that left her shoulders bare with only white straps that ran from the sides of the heart shaped front that cupped her breasts to over her collarbone, behind her neck and that they crisscrossed her back. There was a gold decorated band that ran just under her cupped breast and from that the rest of the dress was a silky white material falling just to about her mid-thigh.

On her back were a set of costume angel wings and a silver decorative halo hanging over her head.

She turned to show him her right profile and clenched the end of her hem of the dress and slowly raised it up her thigh as she gyrate her right hip in his direction along with the playing music while giving him a devilish expression. She stopped just as she gave him a peak at the lacy white waistband of her panties then dropped the silky material of her dress.

She turned to face him then knelt down onto her knees and started crawling to him.

He nervously cleared his throat as he hadn't seen that lustful look in her eyes since they were couple.

She reached the end of the circular ended stage and leaned towards him so she could run her fingertips under his chin and give him a wicked smile with barely a breath between their lips, but she pulled away just before kissing him. The redhead stood back up and turned to strut away from him with a swing of her hips then twirled in placed to let her skirt of her dress rise up and giving him a full view of her bottom half and lacy white thong panties.

_She's my cherry pie, put a smile on your face ten miles wide. Looks so good, bring a tear to your eye, sweet cherry pie. Sweet cherry pie… Swing it!_

Cat stepped aside out of view revealing a pale woman with red hair with an even expression on her face and wearing a dark blue coat just short of mid-thigh, white V-neck shirt and light blue jeans.

Dusty blinked and his mouth slightly dropped open at seeing the woman then whispered out, "Mom?"

Her lips slightly turned up to form the smallest of smiles and asked with a soft tone, "This is what you dream about?"

Dusty cleared his throat and turned his head away and looked down. "This is awkward… I just had a near death experience with the earthquake. I'm not responsible for what my subconscious is doing."

Anna just smiled and walked down the steps to her right then had a seat on Dusty's left.

He looked to her with a curious expression, "What's with gate crashing my head? Why don't you just drop by the house?"

She grinned as she answered with a soft voice, "I wanted us to be able to talk in complete privacy."

He raised his right eyebrow in a questioning manner and slowly answered, "Okay… so what's with the visit?"

"I need to talk to you about your friends… it's about Jade and Freddie."

Dusty's eyes widened in surprise and his jaw slightly slacked before whispering, "So you're the angel that did everything for them? The healings, him getting back from Seattle… the earthquake?"

The redhead softly smiled. "Yes, I'm the angel. It was my Christmas present to him and… to compensate him for one of my brothers being over eager in his assignment with Carly one Christmas."

The lean teenager nodded. That revelation spawned a few question his head, but held them for the moment to ask another question, "Okay, what do you want to talk about?"

"Something… something happened while I was making sure nothing really bad happened from the earthquake."

"What's that?"

"Fate stepped in… with Jade and she's quite upset with her."

"Upset?" he asked more out of anger than concern.

She nodded her head to the side as she explained, "In her view, they're not playing out what destiny had in store for them. They're not following the script."

"Then why don't you tell Fate where she can shove it?"

The angel snorted out a laugh and slightly bowed her head. She patted her thigh then smiled back up to him and responded, "In a way I did and so did you, but…"

His brow furled at being mentioned. "But what?"

"She's going to be dealt with in directly interfering like that, but I'm afraid that she still might try something… far more subtle than what she just tried even after a talking to."

"What did she try?"

"With the help of Mitch—the one that's helped Carly before, she showed Jade how things could turn out for her and Freddie and it's not the happiest life for either of them… her future self died at the end of it from a heart attack at twenty-two. She wanted to scare her back into the path she thought Jade should be traveling and in turn, set Freddie back on his track."

"And what would that be?"

"Freddie back in Seattle and eventually with Carly while Jade got back with Beck."

"That could still happen…" He opened his eyes wide and softly laughed, "I mean it's out there, but it could still happen. We're just teenagers after all. I mean statistically speaking, people don't stay with high school sweethearts."

She bowed her head slightly and suppressed a frown then answered, "That's true, but she wants to force the issue because that's how she thinks their lives should be, not what they chose to be."

"Okay, so why are you telling me all this? Why that she might try again…" He slightly frowned as it dawned on him exactly why she was telling him.

He stood up and glared at the archangel. "You can't come and visit me to be part of my life, but you can just drop in and hand me out an assignment for _them_ like I'm Uncle Castiel or Balthazar or Rachel or Inias?! I'm not in your garrison mom! I don't take orders from you. If you want them protected from being screwed up by Fate then assign a cupid or two to them or just get your hands dirty and kill her."

She bowed her head and whispered out regretfully, "I don't set the rules."

"Don't talk to me about rules when you're the one who decided to have a little fun in the backseat of the Impala with dad. I bet you God really didn't approve of that from His little girl." He turned and looked her straight in the eyes and whispered in a hurt tone, "How about when you go back, you tell your Dad that I would like to be a little higher on your priority list?"

If her eyes truly mimicked those of a human then they reflected the sorrow she felt from his anger of her not being there for him. "I will talk to Father about that… but I'm not handing out an assignment to you. I just…" She stood up and rested a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to meet her eyes so she could continue, "…I wanted to let you know because they are your friends and I know you'd want to protect them. You've stuck by both of them and you threw yourself on top of Jade to protect her. You'd be mad at me if I _didn't_ tell you."

He bowed his head to break eye contact with her and blew out a soft breath through his nose. He thought on her words as another thought came to mind. "Am I here in L.A. for them? Is this why dad moved? So I could meet them one day and be their personal cupid and you to get around the Heavenly bureaucracy? The advantage and flexibility of human Freewill?"

She shook her head and whispered, "No, you're not. What you've done is entirely up to you. It's been your choice. You just happened to meet them. I… I would not put them above your life. I would not have purposely sent you to go to Northridge and separate you from your cousins… I would have chose disobedience."

He retook his seat on the couch and she sat beside him.

He closed his eyes and shook his head. He muttered out trying to suppress his annoyance, "Okay, you're warning me about Fate. What am I suppose to do? She's Fate; she could go all Final Destination on us and start offing people if she wanted to in the stupidest ways possible."

"No she can't, I'd turn her into a piece of charcoal if she tried that to any of you, but she does have other ways."

Dusty glanced down at the floor and took a soft breath as he shook his head. "Then why don't I just summon her in an Enochian devil's trap and take the Colt and shoot her?"

"You could and no one would stop you, but then you'd have to deal with her sisters."

"It's a five shot pistol; I'll summon all three then shoot them all in one go."

Anna slightly tilted her head up and took an unneeded breath. She answered with a hushed tone, "You could do that… but I don't think that'll be necessary or effective. She'd just be taking advantage of other's freewill to interfere. They would still face other things that Fate has nothing to do with."

He snorted out a laugh, "Like Beck… like Carly or Sam? I can't exactly kill them now can I?"

She softly shook her head and laughed along with his joke, "No, that's not an option."

"I might keep that on the table for Beck and Sam if it comes down to it… I don't trust him. He doesn't seem to understand the concept of a girl telling him 'no' and I can't figure out what Sam is… and that worries me."

Anna remained silent on those points.

"Are you going to tell me what Sam is?"

The pale woman smirked. "No comment."

"Oh… okay…" He blew out another tired breath and continued, "I'll keep my eyes open… they are my friends, I love'em and I do want them to be happy."

The redheaded angel gave him a soft smile. "I thought you would."

"So…"

"So… I got to go."

"Yeah," he whispered in disappointment.

She leaned over and pulled him into a hug. "I love you my Dustin."

He patted her back as he whispered in return, "I love you too mom."

She pulled away and smiled. "Should I leave you back to your dream?"

He chuckled out, "You're kind of a buzz kill mom and… I don't think I should be having that kind of dream about her."

"Okay. I'll—"

"Don't tell me you'll see me later."

"Right," she gave answered with an embarrassing nod. "Bye."

He gave her a warm smile as he replied, "Bye, mom."

* * *

Dusty sucked in a breath as he quickly sat up in bed and rested his palms on the mattress on either side of him.

He glanced over to the bookcase and looked upon the Colt resting in its glass case, but then looked more importantly to the old photo of his mom and dad.

He snorted out a laugh before flopping back on the bed, "It looks like Team Freewill is back in the game."

* * *

Author's note: I hope everyone enjoyed this story. I'd like to thank you all that supported this little companion/side-track/parallel story. Remember, it is all up to you whether this story has any barring on 'We Love Each Other'. Once again, I'm remaining quite neutral on the whole affair.

I'd like to personally thank: Fanfic-Reader-88, Challenge King, jafkdb, Twilight Warrior 627, green aura, Jeremy Shane, Layla, PayPal, and PD31 for their support.

Also, to once again say that this story is dedicated to A Writer's Right to Write. I hope you are at peace.

Special Guest Star Julie McNiven as Anna


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